Looming läbi pärandi

Abstract

Unravelling and rethinking Estonia’s diverse architectural heritage has shaped the author’s vision of contemporary architectural creation as a practicing architect and a lecturer in heritage technology at the University of Tartu’s Viljandi Culture Academy. The realisation that the foundation of Estonian architectural art has always been sober peasant wisdom has given a lot of confidence in designing and teaching design. First one dares to get to know the local architecture and environment, the naturally available building materials and traditional working methods with sincere curiosity, and especially the future residents who will use the building. From this grass roots level, a natural place emerges that primarily embodies harmony. A building is never ‘a thing in itself’, it is connected to an invisible network that penetrates both the past and the present. A fixed architectural discourse has no place here. The transparent principle is that a building should be easy to think out, easy to draw, easy to build and, ultimately, easy to live in. Bold plays on form arise instinctively from this rather than simple adherence to the fashions of contemporary architectural trends.