Year-round outdoor swimming complex planned for Tallinn's Kalasadam
A new year-round outdoor swimming and leisure complex is set to be built at Tallinn's Kalasadam, next to Linnahall, run by a Finnish operator with a similar site in Helsinki. Construction is expected to start late this year and finish in 2028.
Plans are moving forward to build a year-round outdoor swimming complex at Kalasadam, the harbor area next to Tallinn's Linnahall. The stretch between Kalarand and Linnahall has grown increasingly neglected in recent years, and the project aims to revive it.
Once completed, the complex will be operated by a Finnish company that runs a similar facility in Helsinki. The design draws on Helsinki's Allas outdoor pool and sauna complex in that city's harbor, originally created by Finnish real estate developer Nordic Urban.
The Tallinn version was designed by Estonian architecture firm Arhitekt Must. Architect Alvin Järving said the team drew inspiration from the history of Kalasadam and Kalarand, having found old footage showing how lower quays once served small fishing boats while higher ones accommodated larger vessels. That history shaped the layout: a lower seaside promenade, a quay at the next level, then the pools, and terraces above.
Alongside the pool complex, the Kalasadam quay will be rebuilt and a new 200-meter promenade constructed and handed over to the city for public use. Developer Kapitel and the architects have held extensive talks with the city on details such as where café seating could go, which areas remain fully public, and where fishing will be allowed.
Construction is expected to begin toward the end of this year, with completion targeted for 2028.
Kapitel also owns an adjoining two-hectare site near Kalasadam, currently a parking lot and vacant land, where a separate hotel project with more than 300 rooms is planned.
