Sport and leisure centre Tallin
Creating a system to measure human scale by design of a sport and leisure centre
T. van der Eng (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
J.A. Mejia Hernandez – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
F.J. Speksnijder – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
W.C. Vogel – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
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Abstract
The project is situated between the vast and repurposed harbour industry area and the intimate scale of the Kalamaja neighbourhood. By introducing a building that serves the local community, it activates an area that was once detached from the urban tissue and dominated by tourism.
At the heart of the site lies a previously abandoned building, now repurposed as a public hub. A newly added circulation tower connects this core to the adjacent sports building and swimming pool.
The volume of the swimming pool is set lower to preserve visual and pedestrian connections to the sea, and to respect the presence of the existing building, whose prominent elevation once defined the site. On the opposite side, the sports hall asserts itself through a distinctive wooden exoskeleton. This expressive structure not only gives the building its character but also provides the necessary stability, allowing the sport hall and gym to remain fully open to connect with the surroundings.
A public, transparent ground floor opens up towards the entrance square, encouraging interaction before and after sporting. The building was designed with human scale in mind, guided by twelve key principles that shape spatial experience. Among them, depth, fragmentation, configuration, circulation, and transitions in scale played a crucial role in informing the design.
The Sport and Leisure Centre proposes a new way of embedding human scale into large-scale architecture. At the same time, it reconnects the site—both vertically and horizontally—to Tallinn’s urban fabric, activating the once detached area of the city