Open today 11–18
Collection’s diary

Riga Estonian Students' Society, 1909. EAM.16.4.71

Riga Estonian Students’ Society

The Riga Polytechnic Institute became one of the most important providers of technical education in the 19th and 20th centuries, where well-known Estonian architects, engineers, industrialists and others studied. At that time, it was one of the closest schools for studying architecture next to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. The Tallinn Technical School (Tallinna Tehnikum) was established not until 1918. By the new century, there were already many Estonian students at the Riga Polytechnic Institute that several corporations were formed to unite the students. The picture probably shows the founders of the Riga Estonian Students’ Society (later the Student Society Liivika), which was formed in 1909. These young students are future architects, engineers and industrialists who have greatly influenced Estonian society. According to their educational background, they were later called “riialased”, the Rigans.

Sitting Left to the Right: architect Anton Soans, Anton Uesson – the later mayor of Tallinn and Karl Treumann (Tarvas). Standing Left to the Right: Karl Feldmann (?), Architect Aleksander Bürger, banker Heinrich Väljamäe, engineer Konstantin Zeren, lawyer Voldemar Tomson, Peeter Sisask (?). The photo was purchased from an antique shop in 2020. Text: Sandra Mälk

Vello Asi, ca 1960–1964. EAM 4.14.4

Interior design of the Composers’ house in Tallinn

The drawing by interior designer Vello Asi depicts a view of the vestibule of the Composers’ House (architects Udo Ivask and Paul Härmson, completed 1964) located on Lauter Street in Tallinn – straight from the street through a big window. The aerial-looking interior with eye-catching low-sitting furniture is designed in the spirit of the 1960s. As was characteristic of the era, the interior designers picked up pointers from Nordic architecture literature that had just become accessible. This new approach to interior design valued open space, horizontal lines and light furniture that could be moved around with ease; it also favoured an inclusive environment to facilitate spending time in passable rooms. The drawing made with ink and watercolours was acquired by the museum in 2017. Text: Sandra Mälk

August Volberg, Edgar Velbri, 1935. EAM 31.1.66

Competition entry for the tuberculosis sanatorium in Taevaskoda

Sanatoriums were part of a healthy lifestyle that was promoted in the 1930s. Untouched natural environments started to be taken under protection as well as Taevaskoda in Põlva County in 1935. The architecture competition for skeletal TB sanatorium, held soon after, aimed to find a building fitting the environment to serve as a health institution. The first prize was given to a pair of renowned architects. Prominent shadows and a strong ink line in the drawing indicate that they were influenced by modern industry and technology. The building was designed for 90 patients and also housed the open-air school for children with pulmonary disease. The drawing was donated to the museum as a part of the archive of August Volberg by Heili Volberg in 2001. Text: Sandra Mälk

Vilen Künnapu, 1981. EAM 41.1.11

House in Tallinn

The reason architects from the Tallinn School were fond of axonometric projection is that such drawings are object-centred. Unlike the viewerspecific perspective, this viewpoint places emphasis on the relations of the object with its different parts, i.e. the measurements of floors and walls and the distance between such elements. This leads to a different perception of space – stairs that have been divided at the top and disappear into the unknown and multilayered patterned rooms. This is proof that axonometrical drawings can be used to convey complicated spatial structures. The coloured pencil drawing was donated to the museum by Vilen Künnapu in 2005. Text: Sandra Mälk

Indrek Erm, 1991. EAM 5.8.2

Watertower-restaurant in Otepää

Utilitarian buildings were often complemented with a commercial layer in the transitional society of the 1990s when shifting towards a capitalist economy based on the free market. Technically, the arrival of hydrophore tanks meant that water towers were already outdated and economically unpractical on their own. But a café located at the highest place in town with a glass lift taking visitors up would have had an invigorating city-like effect in a small town. The high-tech perspective view drawn by the young architect Erm was part of a preliminary design that was never implemented because the city government changed. The drawing made in ink, chalk and pencil was given to the museum by Indrek Erm along with the project and technical drawings in 2015. Text: Sandra Mälk

Eugen Habermann, 1920–1921. EAM Fk 3105, Fk 15852

Workers´ housing in Kohtla-Järve

The Siidisuka neighborhood located in Kohtla-Järve has a garden city concept. The housing scheme was commissioned by the Estonian Oil-Shale Factory for its employees and built between 1920–21 according to the design of Eugen Habermann. This was one of the first urban concept in the life of the newly formed city. The name Siidisuka – which means Silk Stocking – shows the status of the habitats whom most were the leaders, engineers, and officers of the oil company and could afford buying silk instead of cotton fabrics to their family. The semidetached dwellings have unified concept with 4-5 different type of plans. The appearance of the houses are formed by the traditionalist trend and vernacular tendencies. In this case the architect blended the motifs of the modern architecture with characteristics of the local vernacular aspects such as the use of the rusticated limestone. The most characteristic elements are the precipitous sloping roofs and screwed pilasters. The buildings are linked with a perpendicular secondary house that divides inner and an external yard. The decorations on the façades, for example the typical zig-zag motifs show the influences of the architecture of the german expressionism. The photos were acquired by the museum in 1996 and new photos made by Martin Siplane in 2009 for the museum exhibition. Text: Anna Zsoldos

 

Toomas Rein, 1983. EAM 48.2.9

House Nirvana

The house was designed for folk healer Vigala Sass in Saaremaa and contains a number of spiritual symbols. The client wanted to make it a refuge for supernatural powers. The leading motif of the room plan is founded on the four astrological main elements and the golden ratio. Rein has emphasised the artistic value of the work: axonometry is complemented by other ways of depiction in architecture; sections, plans and views are added from the corners on two sides of the house. Such architecture graphics can be seen as a desire to step away from the common official design practice and to take the role of architectural drawings to another level. The art piece was donated to the museum by Toomas Rein along with his other works from the 1980–1990s. Text: Sandra Mälk