Pockets of illusion
Yuri Gerrits (B)
architect
Martin Birgel (D)
urbanist
Europan 9 Tartu
runner-up
The river is Tartu’s greatest trump cards. The project aims to exploit the close proximity of urban development and ecological habitats in a sustainable constellation. Strategies for integration are simultaneously considered on the level of the urban and the green. Emphasis lies on the nature reserve at the heart of the site where ecology is enhanced through an improved connectivity into the regional network. Urban activity is absorbed into contained pockets that establish a richness and legibility in the public realm. They relieve nature from the noise, pollution and intensity of a residential environment, and are an integral part of a new urbanity.
This project is connected to the following themes
Housing - Ways of life
In direct connection with the nature reserve at the heart of the site, the project proposes a habitat that illustrates the idea of a new way of life, part natural, part artificial, part dense construction and part empty space.
Housing - Typology
The housing typologies alternate between low buildings connecting with the nearby environment, and higher buildings that offer a link to the wider landscape.
Nature - Hybridity / Juxtaposition
The urbanization in autonomous strips generates greater permeability with the natural environment, infiltrating the river park further into the urban fabric.