Hanno Grossschmidt designed the Rotermann Square in Tallinn for investor Urmas Soorumaa. Old industrial buildings by Christian Abraham Rotermann were a blight between the downtown and sea port before Grossscmidt renovated the them and placed modern structures atop. In any such project it is crucial for the designer to clearly contrast the old and new as much as possible, or blend them seamlessly.
Soorumaa began the project in 2001 with 80.000 m² of reinvigorated space. The multi-use space combined living apartments and retail. Unfortunately much of it went unused and the project probably lost money due to the economic downturn. The price of renovating the historic structures besides the cost of construction of new portions made the project enormously expensive.
(jodastephen– flickr/creative commons license)
(jodastephen– flickr/creative commons license)
(hanspoldoja– flickr/creative commons license)
(jodastephen– flickr/creative commons license)
(jodastephen– flickr/creative commons license)
(jodastephen– flickr/creative commons license)
(soosalu– flickr/creative commons license)
