The Tartu City Government and the Estonian Association of Architects have announced the international architecture competition for the Tartu Downtown Cultural Centre.

The purpose of the single-stage architecture competition is to find the best architectural design for the building and outdoor space of the Tartu Downtown Cultural Centre.

Participants are invited to design a joint building for the Tartu Public Library, the Tartu Art Museum, an event centre and other spaces supporting it, as well as a biodiverse and varied park landscape and a human scale public space. Moreover, the building must be suitable for the given location and milieu and create a whole with the urban space on the waterfront of the River Emajõgi.

Urmas Klaas, Mayor of Tartu, expressed his hope that the interest in the architecture competition is high. “There has been a lot of talk about the Downtown Cultural Centre in Tartu and elsewhere,” claimed the mayor. “We expect architects to come up with solutions that take into account the sensitive location of the building and offer opportunities to bring together various cultural fields and communities.”

The competition is organized during the city’s detailed plan process and the winner’s solution will form the basis of it. Moreover, the winner will be awarded a design contract for the preparation of the construction project.

Furthermore, the prize fund is as follows:

• first place 60,000 euros,
• second place 40,000 euros,
• third place 20,000 euros
• and three special rewards of 10,000 euros each.

Jury of the architecture competition: Urmas Klaas, Mayor of Tartu; Kristina Pai; Joanna Hoffmann; Priit Metsjärv; Tartu city architect Tõnis Arjus; architect Enrique Sobejano; architect Lina Ghotmeh; architect Tõnu Laigu; landscape architect Martin Allik.

Additionally, the submission deadline is May 5, 2023.

Finally, the Conditions of the competition and other materials are available on the competition’s website.