Krulli Kvartal

The historic Krulli Steelworks in Tallinn will be redeveloped into a vibrant, mixed-use city district. The existing industrial buildings have a great potential to create inviting, inclusive and inspiring spaces and functions. Both their large spans and their industrial expression lend themselves to new creative functions in the spirit of production. The master plan is therefore based on a comprehensive transformation strategy, mapping out the existing building structures and components, and their reuse potential, to ensure preservation and celebration of the industrial heritage, character, and identity.

The entire masterplan for the Krulli neighbourhood is approximately 10200 m2. The vision for the master plan builds on the existing qualities and context. Located in the heart of the master plan is three adjacent industrial heritage halls that will be transformed into an innovation hub and a public meeting place. Existing building structures and components are both preserved and reused in new ways.

Both the master plan and the innovation hub building design is based on a mapping of the existing buildings and their re-useable parts. In two of the halls, a new 4-storey timber office volume peaks through the roofline of the old halls. While the structure is new, its shape is defined by the position of repurposed concrete columns, and the profile of historic steel trusses re-used for the new roofs.

The design for the innovation hub is based on a ‘resource stair’ approach. One which establishes a stepped hierarchy, with preservation-in-place as the highest priority, followed by the upcycling of existing building parts, then the use of new biogenic materials, and finally using new and recycled materials. In this mindset, carbon intensive new materials like concrete are considered an option of last-resort. For example, the heritage protected building’s structural facade, columns and selected roof trusses will be preserved. The trusses are taken into service to create a long-span, flexible top floor of the timber office building insertion and define the shape of its roof-line. The industrial cranes become bridges connecting the building horizontally. The gable-end of the building is reinterpreted and restablished in crushed limestone waste.

Offering office spaces and public functions, this urban transformation will strengthen a vibrant urban life and kick-start the development of the entire Krulli neighborhood. The superstructure of the three existing halls are utilized for the flexibility of their long structural spans and generous ceiling heights. New workshops, labs, and retail spaces of timber construction are nested into the halls.

The new timber structures are placed within the existing spaces in a checkerboard arrangement of alternately open and enclosed spaces. On the ground floor, this maximizes the interfaces between publicly accessible and commercial spaces.

The innovation hub will house co-working spaces, cafés, shops, artist studios, and exhibitions. Offering a wide range of activities, it will foster an urban vitality and kickstart the development of the Krulli neighborhood.