Construction, Education and Science, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Real Estate

Photo: ebs.ee

On the basis of the conceptual design, infrastructure suitable for the high-rise area of Lauteri and Maakri streets will be designed, EBS said.

The winning design of ALA Architects envisages a 4,500-square-meter extension of the existing 6,000-square-meter Lauteri Street study building, extending to Lennuki Street.

The new study building will include auditoriums, group work rooms, areas suitable for organizing various events, quiet work areas and studios, among other things.

The 3 Lauteri Street property will be dominated by a 30-storey high-rise building, which will include a business accelerator and an office hotel aimed at  research-intensive start-ups -- with a total area of 4,000 square meters. An accommodation block with an area of 5,000 square meters, mainly for EBS students, will be built above it.

On the upper floors of the building -- along 15,000 square meters -- there will be apartments, the sales revenue of which will cover most of the investments necessary for the expansion of the school's study and business environment.

"As the main target group of the apartments is successful entrepreneurs, we hope that the residents will also get involved in the school community as students, mentors, visiting lecturers, future employers and angel investors," Mart Habakuk, chairman of the panel of judges, said in a press release.

The panel of judges considered the tower solution to have been the strength of the winning work. "The simple and clear shape of the tower with balconies is at the same time rich in nuances, very functional and a good contrast to the technicist glass buildings that dominate the Maakri area today," Indrek Allmann, member of the panel of judges, said.

The start of design work is now awaiting the establishment of a detailed plan for 3 Lauteri Street.

The winning work was drawn up by a team led by Antti Nousjoki, Juha Gronholm and Samuli Woolston. "This project has been a great challenge for us. We were looking for a solution that would complement Tallinn's urban space in a carefully thought-out and unique way," ALA Architects partner Antti Nousjoki said.

Altogether 37 architectural firms and consortiums of firms sought to take part in the architectural competition, seven of which were selected by the panel of judges. In addition to the work by ALA Architects, the design "Cremona", by the Alver Arhitektid (Alver Architects) and Studio/Woodroffe/Papa consortium, and "Campus Park", by Kaos Arhitektid (Kaos Architects), also made it to the final round of the competition.

The panel of judges awarded the winning prize of 8,000 euros to ALA Architects, while Alver Architects, who won second place, received a prize of 7,000 euros and Kaos Architects a prize of 5,000 euros.

In addition to Habakuk and Allmann, the panel of judges also included Viljar Arakas, Mart Kalm, Ignar Fjuk and Ular Mark.

The Estonian Business School (EBS) is a private university operating in Tallinn and Helsinki. A total of 1,400 students study at the university at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral level. The EBS group also includes a high school with 120 students.

ALA Architects is a Helsinki-based international architectural firm that employs 45 architects and designers of 14 nationalities. The firm's works include the Helsinki Central Library Oodi, the main building of Aalto University, the expansion of Helsinki Airport Terminal 2, the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Tampere, the Learning Center of the Lumiere University Lyon 2 and several new metro stations in Helsinki and its environs. In 2012, the architectural firm won the Finnish State Prize for Architecture.