Pause
My project is a pause.
In architecture, many different buildings exist in the same realm. A pavilion, community centre, airport. The list goes on. But can architecture also be designed to function as a pause? A small break in between the traffic? Or a small break in your daily routine?
The project is situated at three different locations along the edge of Tallinn’s medieval centre, where the old city meets newer developments. A sudden boundary, without a threshold designed to ease the shift from one to the next. These sites were selected based on the various intensities and intervals of public transport. The first location, next to the old town and the Viru hotel, serves as the main site. The second sits in the middle of traffic, beside Freedom Square and surrounded by a three-lane road on either side, with buses and trams passing frequently. It offers a stepping stone to the city’s newer parts. The third is placed in the park, bridging two green areas and creating a safe place to wait for transport at night.
In a city centre challenged by layered scales and diverse architectural languages, the project responds with a system designed entirely at the scale of the human body. These scales are found in material choices, subtle height differences, and depths that shape the walls, elevations and surroundings. It mediates the differences in scale, people, and spatial languages.
Built on the idea of small implementations to create a larger impact, Pause offers a space not just for transit, but for presence. It functions as a social threshold. Part shelter, part meeting point, part memory. An anchor where people pause, reflect, and reconnect with their city and with one another.
Together with this framework, soft curves shape the landscape. They guide and embrace visitors, leading them toward the various functions embedded in the site. The canopy enhances this embrace, creating a space where people can wait, spend time, and meet with others.
Rooted in Estonia’s local materials and shaped by the colours of its seasons, the project suggests a pathway for new locations to come. What does it mean if half of a site is lowered by a torso? If the step toward the coffee bar shifts up or down by one foot? These small spatial gestures offer another layer, a new dimension that enhances everyday use.
Pause becomes a breathing point in the city. Not monumental, but a necessity.