EKA Urban Studies frst studio / MMXVI Crash course in Tallinn I II Studio I typomoRphology Crash Course in Tallinn 1 2 Impressum Tutors: Andra Aaloe and Keiti Kljavin Students: Elena Bolkhovitinova Tom Brennecke Fruzsina Csala Aleksandra Dorofeeva Güngör Güneş Máté Hulesch Nina Stener Jolande Kirschbaum Anastassija Malkova Kaarel Oks Johannes Pointner Mikko Toivanen Map team: Anastassija and Güngör Editing team: Tom and Elena Layout team: Nina, Mikko and Jolande Cover photo by Johannes Pointner Images by members of the studio and Maros krivy 3 INDEX Map 6 Foreword 9 SPONTANEOUS WALK 11 Introduction 13 Stops 14 TRIGGER WORDS WALK 21 Introduction 23 Stops 24 TEMPORARY WALK 33 Introduction 35 Stops Betapromenaad 36 Kalarand 40 The Cultural Kilometer 44 Kultuurikartel and EKKM 46 Linnahall 50 GENIUS LOCI WALK 53 Introduction 55 Stops Genius Loci 56 Skyscrapers of Tallinn CBD 58 Reenacting the Industries 60 Garages Worth Millions 62 Haunted Heritage 64 Kaasani Church 68 Keldrimäe Modernism 70 Dvigatel Workers’ Home 72 Madame Blokhina’s Brothel 76 Keskturg 78 Densification of Keldrimäe 80 4 6 9 FINAL WALK 83 11 Introduction 85 13 Stops 14 Paper Skyscrapers 86 The Change in Value of 21 Garage-Scape 90 23 Mobile Morphology 94 24 Quest for Domination 100 Liminal Space of CBD 104 33 Modernist Living 108 35 Mapping the Sacred 114 Tree Tales 118 36 Real Estate Market 124 40 Where have all the kids gone? 130 44 Nothing & a Bit of Something 134 46 Soviet Shopormophology 140 50 53 55 56 58 60 62 64 68 70 72 76 78 80 5 !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!! !! !! !! !! !!!! !! !! !! !! !! ! ! !! !! !! !! !! !!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! ! !! !! ! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!! !! !! !! ! ! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! 6 !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!! !! !! !! !! !!!! !! !! !! !! !! ! ! !! !! !! !! !! !!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! ! !! !! ! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!! !! !! !! ! ! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! 7 8 Foreword Crash course in Tallinn – a frst physical manifestations of the small studio of the Urban Studies MA nation’s own narratives. Te second programme at the Estonian Academy tour – a more thorough collective of Arts, was designed to be an ABC survey for students – looked into the course for learning about the main developments of Tallinn’s seaside actors and structures behind the in the recent past. Students were to development of Tallinn’s urban form. familiarise themselves with the actors Te majority of the course was spent and processes behind the rapid urban outside of the classroom working change within the controversial chain with the immediate urban space – of developments in the area between as a resource, a trigger for investiga- Linnahall and the Noblessner quar- tions, and also as a stage to present ter. Tis two-week process ended gathered knowledge & insights. with a coherent tour called Tempo- Te studio was built around the rary city. practice of urban tours – a wonderful Ten we were ready to move on. and permissive format to learn and Firstly toward the South, on our talk about one’s environment. We three-day road trip of wider Estonia started of with few tour ‘games’ i.e. and Latvia (visiting Tartu and Valga/ simple tasks to activate perceiving Valka, Cesis and Riga) to be able the environment surrounding us, and to position better our quasi-city- fnding refections of given litera- state Tallinn in the wider Estonian ture from the space itself. And then context, as well as to learn about moved on to more thorough (and distinctive themes common in urban in times even classical) tour-making formations in the Baltic region. And practices. secondly, to move on to one single First one was the so-called Iden- project-area for more elaborate tity walk, a tour about the formation dissection of the urban fabric in the and uphold of Estonian national second half of the semester. identity. Tat tour followed sites Te area we focused on consists in the city that are illustrating the of parts of Maakri and Keldrimäe endeavours, and also failures, of the subdistricts. Te urban form of the 9 area is scattered, messy and diverse, results of surveys were developed by giving us perfect incentive to learn the students. So all in all: it was full- about the actors and processes be- on but also lots of fun. hind it. Afer two-week preliminary Tese materials, methods, research, students compiled a col- outcomes, descriptions etc of the in- lective public tour in search for the tensive three-month working process genius loci of the area on All Souls are now organised by students into Day. Ten, in the last leg of the stu- this booklet you are about to browse. dio, students had a chance to concen- Do enjoy! And warning: there are trate on their individual subjects of no excuses to not to try it all out at interest to develop personal projects home! for the fnal public grading festival on 7th December 2016 in situ. Andra Aaloe and Keiti Kljavin, Te studio was clearly pro- tutors of Crash course in Tallinn cess-oriented, where active partici- pation in every lesson and task was crucial in order to receive a base understanding of the political, social, economic, cultural, ideological, historical etc processes shaping the physical environment frstmost in Tallinn but also in the region. One can say that a good set of methods to study urban formations were tried out and used: observations, inter- views, work with literature, compara- tive work with maps & other archive materials etc. A multitude of cases were studied, and bunch of fruitful discussions were held. And a won- derful array of possible outputs for engaging audience in presenting the 10 Spontaneous Walk 11 Church Rotermanni Rotermanni 3 Structures Tree Towers Market Pigeons Flower Stands New Building McDonald’s Viru Gate Souvenir Shop Pärnu mnt 10 Energia Kohvik 12 Introduction As the name says, this walk for us, students, was spontaneous and unknown. Most of us were not familiar with Tallinn at that time as we arrived not long before our studies started. Tings were about to change when we plunged into urban fabric, thinking on our feet and holding the “speakers stone”. We had to make up stories unprompted and by this observed, experienced and examined places on our way which started our Crash- course in Tallinn. 13 TOM brennecke (full-time student in EKA Urban Studies MA) I addressed somehow a traditional, but a bit special souvenir shop. Te shop sells puppets and other hand made goods from the region. Te owner of the shop, an Ukrainian man, illustrated the shop with talking about his history in Estonia and how he ended up in Tallinn. It was a fugitive but surprisingly deep entrance into Estonian crafs and local shops. Aleksandra dorofeeva (full-time student in EKA Urban Studies MA) Referring to the McDonald’s cafe, I went along with my personal story of coming to Tallinn for the frst time and being warmly greeted there by a stranger. My experience demonstrated how identity of a place is mentally constructed with diferent narratives, showing for example how intimacy gives banal public place the layer of sacredness. Fruzsina Csala (architecture and design theory student from Budapest, Hungary) I am an art and design theory student from Hungary spending my Erasmus semester at EKA. During our frst walk I mentioned the concrete pigeons of Tallinn. Tese nice petite landmarks gently divide streets or function as barriers. For me these types of details make the city cosy and likeable. 14 Church Rotermanni Rotermanni 3 Structures Tree Towers Market Pigeons Flower Stands New Building McDonald’s Viru Gate Souvenir Shop Pärnu mnt 10 Energia Kohvik : Gungor: Gunes: (full-time student in EKA Urban Studies MA) During the spontaneous walk, I addressed the gate of Old Town and the maintenance construction within its surroundings. 15 Jolande Kirschbaum (urbanism student from Weimar, Germany) I addressed the De la Gardie building on Viru street. Te building was among the frst new ones in Old Town afer the occupation and is widely discussed because it breaks up the historical structure. Still, it tries to play with some features of the old town, e.g using the same type of stone in parts of its facade. Elena Bolkhovitinova (full-time student in EKA Urban Studies MA) For an art historian like me, old towns are always places of interest with all the historical layers interwoven, creating something completely new. Te area following the inner side of the city wall near Viru Gates is an interesting spot as it is a new woollen goods market meant mostly for tourists, but in the past this place was most likely a trade place for the local inhabitants. Johannes Pointner (architecture student from Munich, Germany) Close to the Viru Gate a strip of the medieval city wall is well presented and visible. Te old structure of stones and mortar is at this part reinforced by ferroconcrete pillars which were obviously added in more recent times. Te way of dealing with the old heritage and the contrast between both construction methods of diferent times was of interest for me. 16 Church Rotermanni Rotermanni 3 Structures Tree Towers Market Pigeons Flower Stands New Building McDonald Viru Gate Souvenir Shop Pärnu mnt 10 Energia Kohvik Mikko Toivanen (architecture student from Tampere, Finland) I led the group through the fower stands on Viru street. Te colours and smells of the fowers in contrast to the slightly unpleasant busy street crowded by tourists create an ambivalent atmosphere which can be experienced in the busiest tourist season, in a certain time of the day. 17 Nina Stener (full-time student in EKA Urban Studies MA) I led the group to Energia Kohvik, a special place that has survived the transition, a calm well decorated haven for Tallinners to enjoy their cofee without loud music and having to choose between macchiato, fat white or moccachino. Anastassija Malkova (full-time student in EKA Urban Studies MA) At the Viru centre Narva maantee entrance we can have a glimpse of a house with three towers.