kaire
A Place for Learning to Learn
Türi Middle School is a well-executed example of a contemporary school—breaking preconceptions about the organisation of space, encouraging new practices that involve alterations by the users, and offering spatial solutions for socialising as well as withdrawing.
School Revolution
Over the course of the past thirty years, designing school spaces has migrated from being a marginally positioned subject matter to the centre of focus in the field of architecture, supported by scientific studies and continual research and development. The spaces for learning have acquired a new image and meaning.
30 Years at Work
We have gained an unprecedented amount of trust from our employers. Work has suddenly become dispersed, taking place asynchronously at different locations and different times. One gets a sense now of deeper reflection on how companies should organise their work and inspire their workers. This has led to a shift in understanding—what takes place within the environment has begun to affect the environment itself and its fundamental idea, which in turn guides the aesthetic decisions on space.
A House Is a House Is a House?
The group exhibition, The Houses We Need at Estonian Museum of Architecture (11.06-21.11.2021) showcases 16 commissioned designs for houses ‘with the aim of ensuring a more beautiful, secure and peaceful future on planet Earth’.
30 Years of (Apartment Building) Construction in Estonia
What has taken place in the field of apartment building construction over the last 30 years? Indrek Rünkla draws out some of the more significant aspects from his own personal experience.
Hannes Aava. In the Winds of Gentrification—the Noblessner Quarter
After the slow-burning and partly contestable success stories of Rotermann Quarter and Telliskivi Creative City, the eyes of Tallinners interested in urban design or just longing for a better urban space turned to Noblessner—the privately developed waterfront set to become one of the first chapters on the road to open the coastal areas of Tallinn to its citizens. Though far from complete, the lively quarter already offers a chance for a status report and an insight into the entrenchment of certain spatio-social tendencies in the Estonian real estate landscape.
Plant Punk and Poetics
The way nature wills its way into every nook and cranny, even to places where it is unwanted, creates a feeling that freedom, free space, and free will still exist in the world. Burgeoning envelops small moments of pleasure, reverie, and rest on what would otherwise be a routine course from one point to the next.
Curating Biodiversity—The Tartu Experiment
The Curated Biodiversity landscape laboratory in Tartu has organised six experiments so far. Running a small operation, we might not be able to change the world at the snap of a finger, but we can start with what we can handle.
My Biodiverse Garden on Hiiumaa
A vast majority of Estonians today live in cities and can only dream of such biodiversity that dominates in Kristiina Hellström’s garden and its surroundings. Nevertheless, she is writing about it with the hope that recent country house owners could benefit from her experience.