Linnanniemi Portti
Turku, Finland
You can feel the presence of the water, you can see it, and you want to be able to feel it under your feet, to be able to observe the movement in the river and the arrival of the boats to the entry-gate of the city. In an area replete of history and significant memory, has for too long been disconnected from its natural element, the water. The port became in itself a mineral and unpleasant fracture between the city centre and the river, and now more than ever, Turku citizens want the right to access the river, without barriers.
Having in mind the necessity to connect the city to its river, the proposal, aims to embody all the qualities of a contemporary growing metropolis such as: respect for its heritage, hence to develop the project around the castle and its garden; Identification and marking of a landmark for the city, with a gateway as the new landmark in the city, a hub was created with a vibrant, attractive commercial corridor; creation of a river front park as a catalyser of sustainability, diversion, and a buffer strategy to manage the flood; a safe mobility, this strategy is done through the transformation of the old railway into a green corridor and the connection of the riverfront to the East; and finally through a sustainable architecture using local techniques and materials
for construction.
The articulation of these principals, are a combination of various built elements, social connections and networks, in order to finally give back the river access to the city and its citizens. Subdivided in three majors areas, the first zone embodies the economic activity, where the commercial street is developed in the core of the office hubs. The second zone is what embodies the urban park. And Lastly the third zone is the cultural area which contains the museums. the project aims to offer the possibility, in the first area to connect the terminal to a vibrant economical centre where the users can anchor their boat next to the office to a second area; the park as a connector to both the existing urban fabric and the new museum, a clearly identified axis for the visitor. The new shoreline connects these different areas, integrating each other into a coherent and clear story: offering new ways to live an active and sustainable life within the surrounding nature.
Once built, the intervention area will bring back a latent desire of a new water front environment to Turku, an urban harbour, reconnecting the city to its river. The landscape project proposes that the commercial strip gradients towards the greenery and park setting in order to blur the line between the commercial and office hub and the park. By offering both an economical and cultural centre, integrated and connected through a public green shore-park, the project expands on the very ideals of the city of Turku, to embrace a vision of a contemporary and vibrant metropolis and a link between the living and nature.