20 aastat pärandehituse oskuste õpetamist Viljandi Kultuuriakadeemias

Abstract

In 2005, the first students were accepted onto the National Construction curriculum at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy. The new program was led by Priit-Kalev Parts, whose leadership lasted with short breaks until 2017. For the first ten years, this was a separate curriculum, then in 2016 three previously independent curricula (textiles, construction, metalwork) were merged into the Native Craft curriculum with three streams. Since then the official name of the speciality has been Construction Speciality of the Estonian Native Craft Curriculum. 

In 2017, Leele Välja started as the head of the program, her first task being to launch sessional studies, which started 2019. Interest was high in 2019 and 14 students matriculated, more than ever before. Ten of them have graduated to date, with the other four also reaching their final year; they plan to complete their theses in future. The 2021 admissions were even more successful. Due to the high level of interest, a few more people were admitted in addition to the planned 14. This group made history that will be hard to repeat: twelve of them graduated within the set period. Behind this achievement was the wonderful cooperation and unity of the group.
In the title of the Native Craft Construction stream, both native craft and construction are equally important. Native craft, heritage technologies also inspire today’s modern architecture. It is the task of native craft construction specialists to know how to use heritage techniques and keep them alive.

The program has a new head, Tarmo Tammekivi, who started in 2025. Each leader has his or her own impact on the program. Under the first leader, Priit-Kalev Parts, construction was at the forefront, while under Leele Välja (2017—2024), the focus was clearly on understanding and valuing heritage and native technologies. As a leader, Tarmo Tammekivi set the goal of training traditional or heritage building specialists who, in addition to knowledge of traditional technologies, would also have the potential to obtain professional qualifications in the future.

The Native Construction curriculum integrates practical and theoretical knowledge. Subjects such as Estonian architectural heritage and ethnology, heritage conservation, and the theoretical aspects of native crafts are intertwined with knowledge of building physics, supplemented by extensive practice in both artistic and construction subjects. The topics of the curriculum are characterised by the theses defended, totalling 64 between 2009 and 2025. This curriculum has been jokingly called the “sauna curriculum”. Statistics support this claim to some extent: a quarter of the theses are related to the restoration or construction of saunas. In addition to the restoration of old farm buildings research has been conducted on the energy efficiency of buildings, reuse of materials, various roofing materials, ship and bridge construction, and various historical buildings.