Vändra Village Gets a Main Street and a New Sounding Organ Attraction at the Central Square
The architectural competition for the historic Old Street in Vändra's town center, organized in cooperation between North Pärnu County Municipal Government and the Estonian Association of Architects, was won by the concept design "Koit" from the KAMP Architects office. The design creates a unified identity for the entire street that has an attractive impact year-round.
The competition sought a solution that would bring new life to Old Street and improve its functioning as a quality and multifunctional public space. The main challenge was that the Vändra settlement has grown northward and commerce has gradually moved away from Old Street over time. Today's Old Street is an underactive yet highly potential street, framed by historic buildings. The goal of the idea competition was to bring life and people back to Old Street.
The architectural competition was won by OÜ KAMP Architects with the concept design "Koit", which recognized the potential of the town center square at the intersection of three streets – Old, Market, and Rye. "When visiting Vändra, it became apparent that there was no central place where people could meet, organize events, gather and socialize – a classical town square in the true sense. Observing locals, it seemed that most people moved through the intersection of Old, Market, and Rye Streets. We concentrated the most important functions there and designed a new town square. We named it Lüdigi Square," commented Jan Skolimowski, one of the authors of the work.
The architects found that in order for Vändra to stand out and be remembered as a place, it was necessary to create a unique visual and spatial identity. Thus, the yellow tone from Vändra's coat of arms and flag was taken, and inspired by the connection of composer and organist Mihkel Lüdigi to the organ, an entire series of urban space forms with pipes was created. From round tubes symbolizing organ pipes, a town square pavilion, lighting fixtures, trash cans and information boards were created, which bring warmth to the streets with the help of the yellow color even during the grayest and coldest times. This concept is supported by yellow paving and bricks both at intersections and at Lüdigi Square.
According to the jury, this is a bold and distinctive solution – the aesthetics of the lighting and small-scale elements and the dominance of the yellow color have a powerful effect, and the proposed solution brings freshness and fits well into the Vändra environment.
"I particularly wish to emphasize that the authors of the winning work have connected their work to people who once lived and were known in Vändra, such as Lüdigi, Koidula, Suburg, Kangert, and Taaramäe. The proposed solution is fresh and fits into Vändra. Various traffic calming techniques have been thoroughly addressed and the solution for the School intersection has been particularly successful. We can be confident that the historic Old Street will gain a dignified appearance and new life will be breathed into Vändra's town center," commented Madis Koit, chairman of the architectural competition jury and municipal governor of North Pärnu County.
To create a safe environment, the authors propose a more robust solution for Vändra's traffic scheme, cutting through car traffic from Rye Street. Access for service and emergency transport is preserved, but daily car traffic will take place via side streets. The airy pavilion made of tubes proposed in the heart of Lüdigi Square is built on a tiered foundation. On the uppermost tier is a sound attraction reminiscent of organ pipes, which plays pieces from Mihkel Lüdigi's repertoire.
In the winning work, the architects also presented several ideas that create new exciting content for Old Street, such as Lydia Koidula's reading pavilion, a rich flower garden dedicated to Estonia's first female suffragist Lilli Suburg, the "Flower Garden," and a bike parking area decorated with sheet metal figures of race bikes with the names of professional cyclists from Vändra Tanel Kangert and Rein Taaramäe printed on them.
Old Street, which falls within the competition area, is planned to be reconstructed as a whole, and the Pärnu County 2035+ development strategy includes the construction of central squares in Vändra as well as Pärnu-Jaagupi and Tootsi in North Pärnu County.
The prize fund for the architectural competition was 25,000 euros.
First prize (10,000 euros) was awarded to the concept design "Koit" – authors Jan Skolimowski, Kaspar Kruuse and Germo Ausin from KAMP Architects office.
Second prize (7,000 euros) was awarded to the concept design "Asulavõnked", whose authors are Diana Taalfeld, Kristo Vaiksoo, Tõnis Soots and Reino Aedmäe from NU Architecture office.
Third prize (5,000 euros) went to the concept design "Uusvana", whose authors are Studio TÄNA architects Tristan Krevald, Siim Tanel Tõnisson, Ra Martin Puhkan and Kertu Johanna Jõeste.
In addition, an encouragement award of 3,000 euros was presented to the office Kadarik Tüür Architects (authors Marleen Stokkeby, Aleksandr Špakovs, Mats Põllumaa, Ott Kadarik and Mihkel Tüür) for the concept design "Keskpäev". Non-monetary recognition was earned by the competition work "Säsi" (authors Triin Vallner and Ko Ai from Majaja office).
The competition was organized as part of the EV100 "Good Public Space" continuation program, which is funded by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Finance and local governments. The Vändra architectural competition was the 37th architectural competition organized through the program.
