Hannes Aava shares some subjective tidbits about the last 30 years of spatial design in the Baltics.
Francisco Martínez's and Joosep Kivimäe's inventory of spatial objects in Narva, a city on the Estonian border with Russia.
Simply removing the ‘foreign’ symbols offers no more than an ostensible solution, for dissonant heritage—a complex and controversial past, conflicting historical interpretations, etc.—need to be dealt with in a much more in-depth manner.
On the backdrop of successful energy efficiency renovations, one can also notice two worrying trends—residents moving out either due to a lack of renovation, or due to renovation.
In talking to Rein Einasto, interdisciplinarity shows itself to be something more than calculated collaboration between experts of different fields. It has a cultural rather than project-based meaning, consisting of commonly shared social responsibility, making sense of collective action, or, to use Einasto’s own expression, being in a common spirit.
When I heard the news that there is now a lift in St. Nicholas’ (Niguliste) Church, I immediately thought of the famous Santa Justa Lift in Lisbon, designed by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, a student of Gustave Eiffel. On second thought, the type of lift in St. Nicholas’ is a bit different, of course, for the Santa Justa Lift connects two levels of a city built on seven hills while also functioning as a viewing platform and tourist attraction. Something similar to the latter was planned in Tallinn for the area between the so-called Roe Deer Park on Nunne Street and Toompea viewing platform by architect Herbert Johanson in 1935. Likewise, there were attempts—already in the 1920s, then in the 1950s, and for the third time in the 1990s—to draw up a lift (more specifically, a chair lift) for the Patkuli stairway zone. And yet, still no chair lift!
Mustjala care home and day centre was meant to be a pilot project for a standard design in Saaremaa. There is a shortage of care home places and the same kind of building was planned right away for Leisi too. While initially it was feared that life in such a care home would be too expensive, today we see that monthly bills for the residents do not exceed 300 euros.
‘… when humanists accuse people of “treating humans like objects”, they are thoroughly unaware that they are treating objects unfairly.’ Bruno Latour
The term ‘accessibility’ marks everyone’s involvement in the living and informational environment, regardless of their age or health, by ensuring equal opportunities for everyone’s participation in the society. The topic is increasingly discussed both on the national and municipal level, and work to improve accessibility is also ongoing in cultural institutions, including museums, which this article will be focusing on.
In the end of April, I was contacted by an old acquaintance who usually shops at Szolnok supermarket. According to his description of the situation, all the cashiers had been laid off and you can now pay only at self-checkouts. Since Rimi also saves on having a consultant or helper present, many older people feel extremely uncomfortable, not to say humiliated.
Jakob D’herde explores homemaking in one’s later life by drawing upon the findings of his socio-spatial doctoral research project ‘Living (at) Home: On Older People’s Making of Home and Dignity’. He argues that homemaking is a continuous negotiation process between a dwelling and a person’s image of home. When this negotiation is successful, the home and dwelling can be conflated into what he calls the househome.
How should we understand age? Or old age? In some cases, it is perceived as a value—something good, like in wines that improve over time. Old cities and old works of architecture likewise comprise a number of values that new-made ones can lack, and even in people, it is generally taken to be a positive thing that they become wiser, more mature, and more experienced with age.
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The use of program-controlled machinery in customised production.
Any apartment complex can become a community house if its inhabitants are so in sync that while they need to meet up (cooperative activities) they also want to come together.
There is a lot of talk about Pollinator Highway but what exactly is it, where it is located and what is its purpose?
The objective of the subjective preference theory founded by the Japanese acoustician Yoichi Ando is to examine the emergence of a satisfying aural experience in a space that supports learning and creative processes.
MAJA kevadnumber on trükist saabunud ja müügil üle Eesti. Tellimine: info at ajakirimaja.ee
The London-based photographers David Grandorge and Jonathan Lovekin have researched the altering terrain of Baltic states showing how industry and transport shape the landscapes.
On tavapärane, et kui eemaldutakse inkubaatorilaadsete tüüpprojektide ehituse ideest, säilib eramu projekteerimisel autori omapära. See, et 1965. aastal kehtinud riigikorra nüansid ei arvestanud individuaalelamute projekteerimisel autorlusega, oli üks põhjustest, miks levisid tüüperamud ja looming oli varjus.
Johan Tali is the winner of the 2021 Young Architect Award from the Estonian Association of Architects. He earned this distinction for his wide-ranging activities as an architect, curator, lecturer and populariser of architectural topics.
Designation of the status of a valuable individual object in a spatial plan could be considered as a reference to an architectural value that should not be unknowingly destroyed and that will be provided with specific conditions upon issuing the building permit or the design provisions.
I am certain that, if we had had to go through the procedure of preparing a detailed plan, we would not have achieved a comparable result. The more time-consuming procedure would probably have yielded a ‘heftier’ solution in terms of urban development as a compensation for the profits lost by undeveloped property. At any rate, the future would have arrived several years later.