Regarding the challenge launched by the city of Võru for the spatial planning of the Tamula lakeside area, we present a proposal that has as its major objectives:

To interpret the place and reinforce its identity;

To recover the relationship between the city and the Tamula lake;

To generate a vast local economy, working as the county’s economic engine;

To structure programs and public spaces capable of simultaneously attract local, national and international visitors;

To organize diversified and flexible activities and programs, capable of making a place hospitable throughout the year.

The design is conceived having a special regard to the identity, social, cultural and historical aspects of the region of Võru. With this intervention, Võru will develop a new place and a contemporary image, retaining its heritage and traditions. Nowadays the city doesn’t explore its direct relation with the Tamula lake. The competition site isn’t qualified, doesn’t present a character or a special identity, working more like a physical barrier between the urban, the lake and the landscape. The proposal considers that the whole intervention should present a formal image, unitary and coherent, offering a design of physical and symbolical reference to the future of the city. The regular grid system, from the XVIII century plan and the old wood architecture become the founding elements to the premises of the design. We propose a series of platform/terraces that almost naturally extend the urban grid towards the lake, re-establishing the dialog and communication. While the existing city grid presents an imminently urban character, the solution interprets it and transforms it into landscape. These rectangular platforms are created so they can adapt to the topography and configuration of the site, stitch the existing city and link the centre with the waterfront horizon. They will work as stages for sports, recreational, gastronomical, and cultural activities and festivities, fomenting inhabitants and visitors to stay longer. These will find an offer of activities both cosmopolitan and of local tradition. The quality of the proposed public space constitutes one of the essential elements for the solution to meet the quality of life expectations of the inhabitants of Võru, as well to attract visitors. The presence of green areas, vegetation, the presence of water and the lake, and the open perspective of the hills and forests constitute factors of great interest we can explore. In the new image, planned to be offered to the city, the public space should be wide, continuous and flexible, to generate new flows and activities allowing diversified uses. A layered area is proposed where it will be possible to work, live, shop, do sports and relax in the same area and structure. It is a concept similar to the organization of old towns, thus avoiding the creation of an isolated one-activity ghetto. The area is conceived with the perspective of rapidly converting into a new centre in the city.

Over the platforms, buildings are developed, these are settled in a way to create a wide involving space, freeing the perspective towards the Tamula. The constructions, essentially built in wood, take truncated forms, creating references to the silhouette of the tilted roofs of the existing buildings, essentially the older ones in wood. Simultaneously, its volumetric shape twists slightly vertically, proposing new panoramic directions and creating the perception of flow and movement. We essentially propose the creation of a strong maritime profile, emblematic and dynamic for the city of Võru. The peer marks the importance of the axis of Vabaduse street, it provides a vital aqueous link, and the pavilion in the lake works as the anchor to establish the connection between the city and the Tamula. While the constructions over the platforms assume a materiality almost topographical, essentially in wood, but also in concrete, the water pavilion, on the other hand, assumes an aquatic materiality. It is essentially a transparent piece, almost dematerialized, that works as a lighthouse, marking physically and symbolically the strict and dynamic relationship between the urban and the natural. It will be a structure that enhances the relation with the lake, in a unique and sublime space in the city. The top will work as balcony, allowing panoramic views, totally open, of the city and the landscape. At night, it will be a tower of light, also working as a panoramic roof that allows unique sights over the city, the lake, and the forests. It also works as a support for visual projections, communicational and artistic, therefore transmitting the new image of Võru.

We find it essential to complete the existing green belt system, creating a sort of boulevard parallel to the lake. The arboreal masse created by the centenary vegetation of the Fr. R. Kreutzwald park is elongated to the intervention area. We opted for autochthonous species, which for experience we already know will adjust well to this geographical setting. We chose birch and linden trees which will give continuity to the existing landscape image, producing an imminently chromatic effect that will follow the seasons. The design gives special relevance to the environmental sustainability of its design and the bioclimatic aspects. We propose the construction of a centre that works as an example of sustainable construction, environmentally friendly, and befitted of clean and efficient technology. We propose a green design for a green city, we propose a sustainable waterfront for Võru. The construction of an area of excellence with these characteristics will have the capability of working as an economic engine for the city, generating a vast local economy and enhancing its vitality during the construction process as in its later exploration. The proposal of a group of diversified programs and activities, that will enjoy the unique urban and geographical conditions, will therefore have the capability of transforming the new waterfront into one of the most active and attractive areas in the city.