Autumn 2023: Islands
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.
n Kärdla School in Hiiumaa, designed by Arhitekt Must, outdoor recess is not some laborious ideological effort, but simply an ordinary and natural idea, writes Kadri Klementi.
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.
In creating architecture, Ateljé Ö takes cue from materials in their pure form, constructional principles, contextual entities, and finding complexity in the simplest of concepts, write Joel Winsnes and Mats Wahlström Walter.
Johan Tali discusses how clear boundaries can inspire great ideas.
Indrek Allmann discusses landward- and seaward-facing small harbours.
In the search for architectural strategies in times of a worsening climate crisis and diminishing resources, vernacular architecture has moved into spotlight. This is mostly due to its ability to passively respond to the local climate and make use of the ‘as found’—not only in terms of natural resources and building materials, but also in terms of available craftsmanship and local communities’ skillsets. Valuable knowledge of vernacular architecture, a pragmatic yet poetic, and in fact a scalable concept, is mostly passed on through buildings themselves as epistemic artefacts.
Architecture: Arhitektuuribüroo Studio Paralleel (Jaak Huimerind, Kadri Viltrop). Interior architecture: Pink (Tarmo Piirmets, Inna Fleišer).
