2008 – Tamula terraced sky area _ Vorù Estonia

 

 
Program Spatial district, public space extending in the 3rd dimension
Place Vorù, Estonia
Team Eric Cassar, Ghada Chakroun, Christian Svetoslavov, Emilie Le Cavorzin
Owners Architectural Competition for the spatial planning of the Tamula Lakeside Area

General Principles To open public spaces to the third dimension, Terraced Sky Area mixed different public places on the roof and indoor. Creating a district in connection with the surroundings that will be able to grow and change through time. Creating a new town morphology that benefits from views and offers several plans of circulations and meeting places. Best views are for everyone. Project must reinforce social link by offering social activities. This distric can adapt to every kind of population (young, children, parents, older)

We want to create a district that spreads in 3 dimensions. It takes benefit of every roof, every constructed area and offers a connection with the sky on several levels.

The kind of town area we propose is not a break-up with the past, it tries to continue historical town plan while offering new kind of public spaces. What has been done through years in urbanism (street urbanism) work usually well

Following the squared plan of the town, the project, which grows around three centres of attraction: (two central places and one amphitheatre), develops a structural network of posts and girders spaced by eleven meters. This three dimensional structure supports buildings integrated in it. Building can be light and precasted. The grid gives the volumes a direction, but from there, they can evolve separately. Vegetation takes part of the construction extending also in three dimensions. The whole becomes a complex volumetric shape. The roofs are accessible. They are private places (as private gardens) or extension of public spaces.

Every roof has an architectural or cultural theme and is reachable by footbridges connecting buildings together. Moving in the height dimension offers views on the surrounding areas and vegetation at different levels (trunk, foliage, building, clear view). Moreover, due to the general low height of the neighbourhood, roofs offer splendid panoramic views by 360 degrees.