kaire, Author at MAJA - Page 13 of 34

Controversial Modernist Heritage

A building with a strong character is easy to hate. Or to love. Take, for example, Tallinn City Hall—few are indifferent to it. Many see the City Hall as an ingenious artificial landscape and urban stage, while others consider it a relict of the Soviet occupation that is unfit for a free Estonia, just like the Sakala Centre that was demolished in 2007. There are many other lesser or better known buildings from the Soviet period that are architecturally ambitious, but unacceptable to many for aesthetic or ideological reasons.

Foto Reio Avaste

The Patterns of Shrinking

The purpose of the study1 on the patterns of shrinking was to use data from electricity consumption and population register to find out the places and types of buildings in Estonia that are emptying, and to encourage discussion about the possibilities and responsibilities of property owners and municipalities in adapting the housing economy.

The New Cruise Terminal in Tallinn

The new terminal is not just a building, it is above all an urban act, showing the way to and perhaps even anticipating the integration of the harbour and the entire seafront area.

Spatial Heritage and Green Transition

In the last five years, one hot topic for experts in the field of green transition, which has been cropping up at international conferences as well as on the desks of pertinent officials, is the handling of spatial heritage.

Radical Contextualism

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?

A Small Building’s Great Impact in a Small Town

Paide State Secondary School is an excellent example of the mutually complementary dialogue between a historical space and contemporary architecture.

Summer-Autumn 2022 (109-110): Built Heritage and Modern Times

How can built heritage help with modern challenges?

The Culture of Congestion: No More Typologies or New Typologies?

In the last few years, several public buildings with unexpected combinations of functions have been built in Estonia due to practical reasons, and soon, a series of state houses combining a kaleidoscopic array of institutions in smaller towns will follow. How do these public buildings reflect our present times, and how should they?

Restaurant 0 and a low-tech table

A TV show called Restaurant 0 recently aired on Estonian Television, which focused on an experiment conceived by the Põhjaka chefs Ott Tomik and Märt Metsallik to open a conceptual restaurant in Viljandi within a single week. A question was raised on how it is possible to live sustainably and peacefully in a time when ecological catastrophe is imminent. Is it possible to establish a restaurant on zero budget and with zero footprint? The chosen location was an idle, rather deserted-looking 18th-century building in Viljandi. Studio kuidas.works was summoned to devise a spatial solution for the project.

Parasites in the Cracks of Human Consciousness

Between August 18th–21st, Tartu hosted the urban festival UIT, which centred on a programme of installations spread around the city space. Curators Marie Kliiman and Kadri Lind had tasked local and foreign artists to view the city through a so-called parasitic lens, seeking new opportunities for growth in conditions of spatial scarcity or surplus.

+ Veel