The competition brief called for restoration of historic St Paul, and creation of an iconic concert venue and expansive 'Competence Centre'. We stretched the program site to create distinct new districts; a forecourt for St Paul, and three separate park experiences reflecting the sometimes difficult history of Estonia: the Independence Park with a War of Liberation Monument, the Peoples Garden with WWI monuments fronting the expanded arts centre, and a rectified Vabaduse Square as the Singing Garden with a Baltic Link monument.
New concert functions are discretely inserted into the existing St Paul church. New programmatic bulk is across an interior court, with the Competence Center sharing the front forecourt entry while stretching civicly down the new park street.
