Studio 1: Urbanisation ---
Imagining Shtromka
Stretching across time and shaped by environmental, industrial, social, economic and political processes, Shtromka – a site on the Western edges of Tallinn, where the land meets the sea and the city slowly starts to frazzle – has formed into an amalgamation of urban developments.
Unlike many other places in the city, Shtromka, however, does not exist as a clear-cut place to be found on a map. It does not have a commonly aligned beginning or end, neither temporal nor physical. It’s a colloquial term gesturing toward a variety of expansions, meanings and imaginations of a socio-spatial space.
Taking this condition of multivalence as a starting point and Shtromka as both a material site and a conceptual lens, this studio engages with the interdependencies between local urban areas and broader urban processes. Patterns of urbanisation are crystallising not only through
the expansion of metropolitan regions, but in agrarian and extractive hinterlands, in different architectures, sites of social reproduction, in zones of apparent wilderness and even in the oceans. These entangled patterns also manifest in Shtromka. From its origins as a reservoir for
the city’s expansion and a strategic coastal military point; to the construction of Tallinn’s first holistically conceived neighbourhood and the valorization of recreational sites and protected landscapes; to ongoing further developments of coastal residential areas, a tram line or a pollinator highway; Shtromka continuously evolves in plans and developments as well as in perceptions and imaginations. By engaging with these conditions and key urban studies concepts, this studio aims to challenge inherited conceptions of the urban as a bounded settlement type.
Studio I: Urbanisation is tutored by Karina Vabson and Mira Samonig
Text by Mihkel Karindi
When discussing the history of Shtromka, the origin of the place’s name must be mentioned. From Pelguranna to Pelgurand, Stroomi and Shtromka – the area today carries many names. Pelguranna is the official name of the district; Pelgurand denotes the beach of the official designation; similarly, Stroomi denotes mainly the beach area and has longer historical roots; and then Shtromka is the denotation we work around in this studio – a colloquial term that cannot be found on official maps yet persists as an identifier amongst residents of their neighbourhood. It also stems from the historical development of the neighbourhood as a residential area for workers of the surrounding factories during the Soviet era, many of whom still reside in the district today.
Initially, the name ‘Stroomi’ comes from the family name ‘Strohm’, held by one of the governors of Tallinn Bengt Fromhold Strohm, who is thought to be the founder and the initial owner of an old pub which used to be located between the Paldiski highway and the psychophysical rehabilitation centre located in the Merimetsa forest. It is thought the pub was constructed there in the early years of the 19th century and remained until the first quarter of the 20th century, from which time also the only photographs of the place are said to have been taken. According to some sources, the place was infamous amongst local members of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party serving as a secret meeting spot for them around 1906. The pub is said to have been in ruins by the 1930s, and by that time, the place didn’t have any positive connotations anymore. Anyhow, the name stuck to the place, because from the pub, there was a road through the woods which led to the beach. Thus, people started calling the forest and the beach by the name ‘’Stroomi’’.[1]
Although you could say that the area had a rather fancy name, derived from the name of one of the old governors, the area remained rather abandoned until the 1930s. The beach did not have any good connecting roads leading there. Parts of it contained an old meadow, and thus the only real visitors to the place were the farmers who herded their animals there. However, the residents of the neighbouring Pelgulinn felt that the area right beside their district was not really used properly and instead should be turned into a beach for the wider public. Thus, in 1934, the Improvement and Beautification Association of the beach of Pelgulinn was founded. The association cleaned up the beach and constructed buildings for public use. By 1936, the association had built a beach house, a footbridge to the sea, a fountain, swings and some other buildings for the beach. The facilities also included many changing rooms and even showers. Unfortunately, further envisioned plans could not be implemented as soon enough the Second World War started, which reached Estonia by Soviet occupation in 1940 and German occupation in 1941. Construction and improved access during and after those years never continued in the area. The already finished facilities – such as the beach house and many other buildings – were left deteriorating and were destroyed in multiple fires over the following years. The last remaining facility was the one where the changing rooms were also located, but unfortunately, this was also destroyed sometime during the 1960s.[2]
After its first public revival, Shtromka fell partly into neglect again. Yet, due to the proximity to the Sitsi Cotton Factory, construction of the residential buildings in the area started in the 1940s during the Soviet era, at the time still in the form of wooden houses. These were very similar to the already existing design of the Tallinn houses, which were very popular in Pelgulinn. Only some minor modifications were made. These first residential structrues of the area were built on Sõle street, the Eastern edge of the district, but would be seen more as a part of Pelgulinn than the current Pelguranna.[3]
In the following years, building intensified due to the varied industrial structures surrounding Shtromka, and residential apartment buildings were directly built in Pelguranna district which still characterize parts of the area today. These can be also traced back to the soviet era, showing three different architectural neighbourhoods that represent three different decades, with different urban planning and architectural theories: the Stalinist era, the Khrushchev period and the Brezhnev era.
In the middle of the 1950s, the Stalinist housing appeared. These houses can be differentiated by the abundant decor on the buildings. They make up quite a portion of the district, but it is still only a small share when compared to the original grandiose envisioned plans. Many more Stalinist housing blocks were supposed to be constructed in the district. These were also supposed to be constructed near the sea, but instead, the Khruschev period housing instead stands there.[4] Responding to the political turnovers of the period, the majority of the district is made up of the Khruschevkas. These also follow a different housing layout and offer a lot more privacy compared to the previous decade’s housing. They also offered separate flats whereas the previous housing would be composed of different households sharing one apartment. The third architectural era is made up of the apartments built under the regime of Brezhnev. These are the most similar apartment blocks to the ones used also in Mustamäe, Õismäe and Lasnamäe – the larger conceived ‘sleeping districts’ of Tallinn on the edges of the city. Unlike the Khrushchevas, these apartments also had balconies, and the houses were positioned so that they made up courtyards in between the blocks. From the end of the 1970s also came the high-rises of the district. The Shtromka existing today hence developed structurally in response to the Soviet era and its political contexts.
While the initial approach to the era in the 30s was driven by the appreciation of the beach and an attempt to open it to the wider public as a leisure area, the Soviet period did not primarily focus on these properties. Until the 1970s, the sewage led into the sea. Thus, the beach and the water have been considered not to be the cleanest.[5]In the 1990s, when Estonia regained its independence, Stroomi beach was cleaned, and a brand new beach house was built there. From there, the beach, similar to the Merimetsa forest, grew into appreciated natural areas within the cityscape – not only for its residents but also for the wider population of the city.
Throughout and amidst these layers, Shtromka remains today as a place-name, a sense of belonging, a historical reminder, an intuitive district that is far from concluded. The individual projects of this studio open up the non-conclusiveness further – more layers more layers.
[1] „Raehärra Strohm ja tema Trahter.“ Kristiine Leht nr. 7, (26 Juuli 2013), 2. Accessed: 4 December 2025, https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=d&d=kristiineleht20130726&e=-------et-25--1--txt-txIN%7ctxTI%7ctxAU%7ctxTA-------------.
[2] Jaak Juske. „Jaak Juskega kadunud Eeesti avastamas: kauni Stroomi rannahoone ja selle hävingu lugu.“ Forte (5 August 2027). Accessed: 4 December 2025, https://forte.delfi.ee/artikkel/79095326/jaak-juskega-kadunud-eesti-avastamas-kauni-stroomi-rannahoone-ja-selle-havingu-lugu.
[3] „Stalin, majad ja Pelgurand.“ Jaak Juske blog (2 May 2012). Accessed: 4 December 2025, https://jaakjuske.blogspot.com/2012/05/stalin-majad-ja-pelgurand_02.html.
[4] „Stalin, majad ja Pelgurand.“
[5][5] Tallinna Looduskaitse Selts. Loodusmälestised. Natural Heritage of Estonia, Tallinn, Põhja-Tallinn, Haabersti. Teaduste Akademmira Kirjastus, 1998. Online availble: https://jaakjuske.blogspot.com/2012/05/stalin-majad-ja-pelgurand_02.html(accessed 4 Decdember 2025).