BIG wins International Competition to design Tallinn’s new City Hall

Jun 2009

By Sebastian J — Filed under: Awarded Competitions , BIG, Estonia

UPDATE: Thanks to your comments, BIG sent us the drawings and diagrams of the project. Check them out in the gallery!

An international idea competition was held for Tallinn’s new City Hall in Estonia and the best concept was presented by the Bjarke Ingels Group from Denmark together with Adams Kara Taylor of the UK.

The purpose of the international idea contest was to find the best architectural solution for the new administrative building of the city government that will be situated on a 35,000 m2 plot near the Linnahall building. The contest for the new city was met with a great interest, 81 architects and their teams were willing to present an entry. Of those, the international jury chose the best 9 to shortlist as finalists into the second phase of the competition. By May 15 the finalists handed in their final solutions. The international jury’s decision to award BIG’s entry first place in the competition was unanimous and was presided by the vice mayor Taavi Aas.

More images after the break.

36 comments »

PanamArq says:

what??? where are the diagrams and arrows? i just cant understand a BIG project without them

# June 23, 2009 at 12:09

joninberlin says:

I agree. A Big project just isnt a Big project without the push, pull, squeeze, and twist arrows. ;)

# June 23, 2009 at 12:22

rodrigo bocater says:

diagrams! diagrams! where those pink vectors! =D

# June 23, 2009 at 12:52

Scott says:

I third that. Their videos and diagrams explain what you would otherwise think is a totally (bad) formalistic project.

# June 23, 2009 at 12:53

Found the diagrams:
http://big.dk/projects/tat/

# June 23, 2009 at 13:03

lose says:

there are diagrams too, just not here, vee…ery nice diagrams.

# June 23, 2009 at 13:14

DiaphanousAbyss says:

Thank you Scott… The diagrams made me shoot my own vectors.

# June 23, 2009 at 13:20

Jay says:

here are some diagrams.
http://www.archtracker.com/big-wins-international-competition-to-design-tallinn%e2%80%99s-new-city-hall/2009/06/

# June 23, 2009 at 14:12

phew…..now I can understand it!
kind of reminds me of the Boston City Hall, but with modern security these courtyards and public spaces under the building are now off limits and useless

# June 23, 2009 at 14:23

conaj says:

a little bit like the parrish art museum by herzog de meuron…

# June 23, 2009 at 16:00

sound says:

You are right conaj: also programmatic diagram looks identical

http://www.parrishart.org/gallery/pages/press/pr-design%20concept%20release%20master.pdf

# June 23, 2009 at 16:36

Tarek sakkal says:

# June 23, 2009 at 16:49

Tuf-Pak says:

It does remind me of the Parrish art Museum, Conaj; that and Gottfried Bohm’s pilgrimage church.

I think it’s quite nice on the whole, however. The inevitability related by the diagrams is a bit thick, however. Occasionally if you want something to look a certain way, just go for it.

Everything has to look like something.

# June 23, 2009 at 17:36

Palau says:

so what parrish art and this town hall have the same architectural program… both are quite brilliant and it seems to me that both places are great, with spaces filled with light and transparency both concepts have transparency in common and i think we have to admire these great projects

# June 24, 2009 at 03:10

Joshua says:

how old is bjarke? like 36? and he gets a lot of commissions built… if you can stand the culture for more than 5 minutes, OMA is definitely a breeding ground for kick starting your career.

anyone know what mvrdv and rex have been up to recently?

# June 24, 2009 at 05:26

ChrisS WebeR says:

I don’t like it…

# June 24, 2009 at 06:02

_panza says:

I understand it, but I dont like it that much. I think both BIG and JDS lost some freshness and spark when they decided to separate. PLOT rules

# June 24, 2009 at 06:13

rook says:

another master pice of crap by the danish contingent… I guess those Estonians deserve it!

# June 24, 2009 at 09:05

Z-Buffer says:

really like BIG´s projects

# June 24, 2009 at 09:22

lebu says:

yes they deserve it…

# June 24, 2009 at 10:04

jiri says:

I like the mirror. Would be very cool if built (see the diagrams on the BIG web page).

# June 24, 2009 at 10:10

Heli says:

Is it possible to see the other 8 projects who were in this competition? I like the project and it does reminds me to the one by Herzog and de Meuron, but I will like to understand why BIG won.

# June 24, 2009 at 10:46

mafa says:

I found 3 of them http://europaconcorsi.com/results/100385-Nuovo-municipio-di-Tallin-New-Administrative-Building-of-the-Tallinn-City-Government/rankings

# July 31, 2009 at 13:35

CMO ARCH says:

BIG won because they are awesome. Everything they do can be explained through diagram, unlike half the projects on this website. BIG’s got it down, the money shot perspectives AND the diagrammatic explanation that apparently everyone forgets after their first year of school.

I think this project is beautiful, maybe it’s just the rendering style, but the material blends in beautifully with the town. Nothing too flashy like Gehry or Hadid. The public spaces below I think will remain public, regardless of security and aside from the inner spaces, the outer spaces created are awesome piazzas!

Also the “spires” of this building will look great on the skyline with the actual spires around (presuming the are tall enough).

# June 24, 2009 at 13:05

Tashio says:

Its sad that people (like you) are easily swayed by “money shoots” and kindergarten colored diagrams that attempt to convey an idea but fail at critical thinking and true analysis of context, site, and other pertinent elements that are so vital to true architecture. BIG always attempts to make their building the focus of where ever it is with no respect to the site itself. The geometry is never fully investigated and arbitrary at best. Scale rarely if ever comes to mind when they develop their buildings. BIG has a lot to prove if they want to truly be considered among the architecture greats. Maybe they can take some note from William J. Curtis or some of the North West architects.

# July 31, 2009 at 14:38

CMO ARCH…I appreciate trying to answer my question, but still not good enough. Brasil doesn’t win their matches just because they are awesome (refering to soccer/footbal), they win because there is effort, discipline, technic, etc…and also because the adversary allows them to play good, the better the adversary the better they’ll play. So that’s why I was wondering if it was possible to see the project of the other competitors

# June 24, 2009 at 13:18

Lite says:

Thank you so much for the new data.
BIG is surely one of the best practices in the world. Even though one can see influences (oma’s for instance) they’re doing fresh and good architecture.
Very nice project!

# June 24, 2009 at 13:43

imagine says:

i find the plan look like the plan of a building for children of Suo Fujimoto.

# June 24, 2009 at 22:13

vadim says:

diagrams, arrows, push, pull ….

They should be ashamed !!! where is the ARCHITECTURE ?!!

# June 25, 2009 at 01:26

vadim…. ashamed of what, like it or not that’s architecture if you don’t like the way they explain it just do not comment there’s no better way to explain BIG’s projects and you know that … or would you like to arch daily upload a video with Bjarke explaining the whole project just for you….. come on

# June 25, 2009 at 03:25

patj says:

well said palau, i think BIG have delivered again

# June 25, 2009 at 04:20

Temple says:

BIG rules ! beautiful architecture

# June 25, 2009 at 04:26

PanamArq-
I think the public space is still accessible and secure since it seems that the building’s walls go all the way to the ground. The “plaza” might be more like a lobby with a lot of public activities.

# June 25, 2009 at 11:50

a says:

Looks like a fun building. It actually feels like it has been influenced by Alvar Aalto’s Säynätsalo town hall building.

The only thing that worries me at the moment is that BIG aren’t communicating the visual relations between their project and the Linnahall concert hall building, which is seen on the site plan (to the top – right of the town hall). Linnahall has a very strong visual presence. Just google Linnahall for images. In the aerial photos the new town hall would sit just in between the Linnahall and the factory with the chimney on the right.

Anyway, a good project.

# June 25, 2009 at 19:15

QFWFQ says: