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?
kaire
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.
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.
