CONTOUR — Tallinn Seaside

Tallinn’s long-debated Põhjaväil coastal highway was widely seen as a threat to the seaside. CONTOUR asked a different question: could the controversy itself be turned into leverage for opening the coast to the city, using economic and governance tools alongside design?

Produced in the spirit of “Street 2020,” an earlier Tallinn Architecture Biennale competition about the same Põhjaväil corridor. CONTOUR’s title is a deliberate acronym: Consolidated Ownership Negotiation Tool to Overcome Urban Restrictions.

Rather than a single top-down masterplan, the proposal defines seven “CONTOURS” — localised, actor-oriented public-private negotiation entities, each built around a shared development theme along the seaside. Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and a Floor Area Ratio distribution matrix let buildable volume shift toward the best locations while protecting valuable green and historic areas; a three-flow mobility analysis (cars, cycling/sport, pedestrians) shapes the street sections in between.

A single competition-board submission: one A0-format panel covering the concept, potentials map, economic mechanism, mobility resolution, and precedents.