Heleri Koltšin

In my final thesis I am directing attention to the Canary Date Palm which is Tallinn Botanic Garden (TBG) biggest value with its great history. It was planted by the first manager of TBG who received it from his father. He was really honored by his colleagues as a fanatic plant lover. He brought his plant to TBG in the 1960’s. Unfortunately the palm is going to be removed during the building reconstruction works in 2020.

Personally, I believe it is the wrong decision and saving the palm by building a new construction with suitable size for it would be a more optional solution. The current building is ambitious in its architectural form but it does not consider palm’s and visitors’ needs anymore. Building is a stem pyramid shape construction with silent walls on the front which restricts receiving normal daylight inside of the room. Room program needs updating and it should consider people’s expectations.

I focused my thesis conception on plants and TBG visitors. I believe that saving the historical palm and constructing a new building for it would develop more interest towards Tallinn Botanic Garden.

In my solution I focused on a new room program which means deconstructing a large part of a building. From an interior architecture perspective I will give outlines for a room program which comes from visitor and palm needs.

I offer an eating garden in the center of the room where restaurant tables are surrounding the exhibition area and the view focus points to plants and Canary Date Palm. In addition it has an event space with an open plan.  Idea is to develop leisure activities and change botanic garden from specific museum to widely known and visited cultural center