All new hard infrastructure should be engineered to double as social infrastructure, writes Mattias Malk.
Ingrid Ruudi discusses architects’ relationship with time and the various ways in which architects in their later years record their doings as history.
Kui mõni ehitustehnoloogia või -materjal jääb pikemaks ajaks kõrvale, tekib tahes-tahtmata mulje, et see ongi olemuslikult iganenud. Nii on juhtunud looduskiviga, mille kasutuspotentsiaali kohta kostavad arhitektid ainult seda, et kivi on liiga kallis, liiga töömahukas, ei sobitu riigihankesüsteemi ning et kivist ehitamine on lihtsalt liiga keeruline, mida on näha restaureerimistestki. 21. sajandile on tüüpiline võimetus kujutada ette praegusest erinevat tulevikku ja nii on valdavaks paekivikasutuseks selle õhkimine killustikuks, et täita maad ja segada betooni.
What is happening in the freshly insulated walls of author's home?
One of the ways to alleviate environmental problems might lie in architecture that brings people closer to their environment again. Estonia as a maritime nation has plenty of opportunities for this.
Arhitekt Musta projekteeritud Kärdla põhikoolis Hiiumaal pole õuevahetund ideoloogiline ponnistus, vaid lihtsalt üks tavaline ja loomulik mõte. Nii kirjutab Kadri Klementi põhikooli uuest majast. Kobaratesse paigutatud klasside vahele jääb ruumi õppimiseks, õpetamiseks, lõõgastumiseks ja mitmekülgseks liikumiseks – ainult läbiliikumiseks kõlbavat koridori peaaegu et polegi.
Mihkel Tüür writes about the wooden slat house that he built on the island of Muhu fifteen years ago.
I believe that many a reader will imagine islands in the form of a curled-up coastline—after all, often there is little else there besides sea foam and bird screeching. Although Estonian islands are slowly growing in size, we still have a very large number of small islands—reefs, rocks, islets—whereas not so many islands where people would live all year round.
Hiiumaa municipality architect Kaire Nõmm takes a look at what life could be like on one of Estonia’s main islands.
These days, to be is to be connected. Electricity, heat, road and street networks, internet connections, and water supply—it is as if all these intersecting and sometimes overlapping networks have become basic human rights. If these networks function well, our dependence on them goes unnoticed—we rarely take a moment to acknowledge the energy that travels across the sky, through underground and underwater pipelines, through wall cables, into millions of devices. On the other hand, when something disrupts the functioning of these networks, be it military aggression by a tyrannical neighbour, a sharp rise in prices, or catastrophic weather events, the political, economic, ethical, and often also spatial dimensions of these structures suddenly become apparent.
Elo Kiivet revisits Tulbi-Veeriku quarter in Tartu where the friction between these two dimensions has given rise to one of the most praised new neighbourhoods of early noughties in Estonia.
In Vilnius, a group of friends came together to acquire the top floor of a Soviet-era factory building. They later cooperatively developed it into their homes. Laura Linsi talks to Mantas Peteraitis about how the project came to be.
Editors' choice
What kind of relationship between a space and its surroundings would help to avoid the objectification of space—i.e., treating buildings or areas as sculptures or fully controllable objects?
Paide State Secondary School is an excellent example of the mutually complementary dialogue between a historical space and contemporary architecture.
Little was built following the re-establishment of Estonian independence in the early 1990s, however, the debates held and practices established largely came to set the foundations for the dominant issues in the architectural field in the past decades.
What kind of relationship between a space and its surroundings would help to avoid the objectification of space—i.e., treating buildings or areas as sculptures or fully controllable objects?
Most read
I sat down with Judith Lösing, Julian Lewis and Dann Jessen, the three directors of East Architecture Landscape Urban Design Ltd., the architecture office I work with in London. As an office it is not uncommon for us to exchange ideas and discuss matters that might not have a direct connection to a project but that are a part of a wider architectural discussion. For this issue, I invited the three directors to discuss the way East’s practice that spans around 20 years relates to the theme of authorship in architecture and how practicing more or less exclusively in London shapes that relationship.
Paide State Secondary School is an excellent example of the mutually complementary dialogue between a historical space and contemporary architecture.
The foundation of the Kreis family is the first foundation by a local family to support architecture that was established by Heljo Kreis in 2012. The aim of the foundation award is to acknowledge noteworthy phenomena, alternative practises and versatile creators who have remained on the margin of the mainstream Estonian architecture.
Architecture is a practice that operates in an eternal field of tension between the measurable and unmeasurable, where the rational and justifiable materialises in contact with the artistic decisions which are made in the architect’s umwelt and whose internal genesis may often be undefinable and elusive to description. The following is an attempt to shed some light onto that part of the architect’s creative process that is in shadow.
For Veronika Valk-Siska, architecture neither begins nor ends with a design or a building. Her career in architecture until now can be read as a reflection of an increasingly expansive understanding of what architecture could be.
Rotermann Quarter stands out for the diversity of its new-builds and reconstructed former industrial buildings. There is probably no other area in Estonia awarded with as many prizes as this one. Mathilda Viigimäe and Kristi Tšernilovksi shed light on the architectural development of Rotermann Quarter.
What can barn-dwelling architecture teach us today?
It seems that in architecture, the only way to ensure high quality is to rely on commitment, consideration and precision. Tomomi Hayashi and Hanno Grossschmidt do their work in a composed manner with professionalism and commitment. And their architecture speaks for them.
Is EV100 Great Public Space programme revealing or creating the uniqueness of small towns?
I sat down with Judith Lösing, Julian Lewis and Dann Jessen, the three directors of East Architecture Landscape Urban Design Ltd., the architecture office I work with in London. As an office it is not uncommon for us to exchange ideas and discuss matters that might not have a direct connection to a project but that are a part of a wider architectural discussion. For this issue, I invited the three directors to discuss the way East’s practice that spans around 20 years relates to the theme of authorship in architecture and how practicing more or less exclusively in London shapes that relationship.
