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Preserving the market hall structure in a new formula
by Max Rink
Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture – Delft, Netherlands

Since Estonia’s independence in 1991 there has been a radical shift towards the neoliberal economy. Of course there is also a counterside to this, and even institutions like the Tallinn Urban Planning office are also facing a harsher climate. City development is dictated by individual real estate agents seeking profit, resulting in difficulties in implementing any sort of masterplan or strategy. Loss and internalization of public space into shopping mall interiors is the consequence. I focused on a zone west of the old town where two neighbouring forces of commercialization and neglect come to terms with each other. Amid this border zone lies the ‘Russian’ market behind the station. It functions as a gateway between the city centre and the area beyond. The market is an important factor in Tallinn public life but due to its marginal character and the upgrading of the surroundings, it is likely to vanish in its current form.

The aim of the project is to investigate the potential of the market as an attractor of supplementary functions. The design challenge lies in the successful integration of the typology of the outdoor market and its ‘public character’ with an additional programme to form a 3-D fabric without lapsing into the simulated public environment of the mall. The search for form and organization brought me to the model of a sponge. To translate this model into a workable architecture I use the following strategy: a hypothetical matrix of slabs in three perpendicular directions forms a conglomerate, which are carved out to create the spaces desired while leaving enough body to keep it stable. I propose an organizational structure within which ownership/inhabitation remains negotiable. Public passages for the market are bordered by niches that individuals can occupy; a narrow bazaar-like route with spaces for rent on a monthly basis encircle community-run market halls, offering an architecture that agitates through scale and absence of perfection, but is lively and tactile through materialization and usage.
Full size images after the break.

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