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URBAN  SERIES

climate change is making it to our cities sooner than we thought. sea level is expected to be 2.5m more at some point. our relation with water will change forever.
are we going to be ready for it?

linnanniemi waterfront masterplan

history and future weaving the coastline of turku

in this heroic land of “a thousand lakes”, “wave” is a quest for an old port revitalized into a new heart for the city, the endpoint of the development and expansion of the old city center to the harbor. the wave propagates along the river aura shoreline with a rippling effect, increasing the physical holding capacity of the area that people interact with and enhancing functional maintainability adapted to sea-level change by the help of temporary and permanent graded platforms, composing a wide-spectrum of wave terraces behaving like an invisible barrier against, thus giving the probability of everchanging coastal use scenarios during seasonal transitions, floods, and climate change.

year

size

location

theme

status

2020

365.500 m2

finland

turku

urban design

competition

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demolishing an existing structure is not fair, however, you need to let go if it has already accomplished its mission and become obsolete. it is one of the main decisions to demolish the outdated terminal buildings which are to be re-built and transform the area with its right to more open, public and green spaces. 

narrow and serpentine pathways of the castle park inspire us to interweave new ones that move along smoothly to shape the mingling sinuous waves of the new riverbank, like an expanding rippling effect, which provides a starting point, an integrative network that competes for continuous, flexible and unpredictable new connections with pedestrian-only and shared service streets between both ends of the site, and so the aura river, weaving the shoreline thread by thread with different levels of functions and landscape.  

 

       how can an overly grown concrete ferry port be salvaged as a part of the city again and expand channels to hook up to existing territory, the river aura, the history and future of the site?

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current situation : a busy port

being the port of the city and connection point with the great archipelago and islands of Finland, Linnanniemi becomes a very busy transportation center. The geographical value is advantageous for logistics; the transportation concept gets ahead of the natural and historical value, consumes the surrounding, and causes the castle territory to knuckle under the mass port and car traffic. However, the Turku city has not given up, and now it is time to find a way to claim the territory back to public utilization.

extending turku castle park

castle island has retreated from the chaotic traffic density around the coast due to port functioning. The project offers to extend castle island through to the waterline by using the same texture as the existing park, and transform the area into a modest museum which offers different kinds of gathering possibilities for castle park events and becomes the gravity point of newly leveled and raised coastline. the extended castle park naturally and smoothly expands, dividing the area into two while serving as connective tissue between the city and the shore.

an open air museum

the wave system knitted various elements that are attached to the leveled coastline, offering a variety of public spaces used for all ages along the river. These nodes are generating an open-air public space use, which attracts people to hang around, together with the new extension of ‘maritime and forum marinum museum’ on the right. on the left, the node is the existing hotel transformed into a ‘ culture house and activity space’ which would eventually become a new spot not only for tourists but also the residents and citizens.

and so begins the life

starting from the wavey public space along the coastline, publicity of space decline with the use of housing blocks on the right, and office blocks on the left. semi-private mini-parks accommodate in between the blocks. commercial ground floors welcome the users from all directions with pedestrian-only or shared streets and large pavements. So the collective space starting from the castle and the park spreads through the shore and then rippling to the inner parts of the territory to make start a new neighborhood, a new community, on the backyard of the biggest park of the city.

a new heart for turku

with the completion of the park, museum extensions, and all blocks around the district, there would flourish a new identity of the Linnanniemi for the upcoming decades. an interactive territory both virtual and physical would share a cosmopolite and diverse community to live, produce, and share. You are welcome to hang around in this new district which is more than just an attraction point. a place that was literally lifeless, a place now that lives. a new heart for the city.

the museum of the history and future is shaped like a big rippling and swaying effect of the earth and water as the park extends from the castle to the shoreline. the castle, museum, and park triangle is envisioned as a space that brings people together and is setting in motion several activities at the same time in relatively remote areas, including various functions promoting collective actions within four seasons.

 

the sloping topography of the museum enables both keeping a tab on the castle and the river. the museum square serves a capacity of ten thousand people for concerts with the help of floating stages and platforms. hockey tournaments and “blades of glory” festivals are held when the surface of the river becomes suitable. 

also, extended castle park allows performing various professional and amateur endeavors along with the square, supporting relaxing and well-being activities, sports facilities, playgrounds, sculpture trails, mini-kiosks, cafes, restaurants, beer gardens, temporary market squares, and so on.

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          turku wave is basically extending the existing castle park through the river with a history and future museum having a plaza in front which is a central node for the coastal line of the territory has housing and office blocks both sides of the park through the city.

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