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Alar Kotli, 1957-1958. MEA 23.1.51

Tallinn Song Festival Arena (sketch)

The Tallinn Song Festival Arena represents the re-arrival of modernism to Estonia during the Khrushchev Thaw. The Estonian SSR leadership commissioned the structure to mark the 20th anniversary of Soviet rule, but to Estonians, it was a symbol of their nationality and culture. The Song Festival Arena was essentially also a way of the nation thumbing its nose at the USSR – with its completion, Estonians’ nearly 100-year tradition of holding mass song festivals was immortalised. Alar Kotli came close to an entirely innovative final solution already when making his initial sketches, which include a saddle-roof in the shape of a hyperbolic paraboloid that functions as an acoustic screen. The sketches were donated to the museum by Anu Kotli in 1997. Text: Sandra Mälk

Urmas Muru, competition in 1988, II prize. MEA 5.5.3

Computation Centre in Pärnu

In the 1980s young architects Raoul Kurvits, Peeter Pere, and Urmas Muru formed the radical Rühm T (Group T) artists’ group, which proclaimed that architects are artists, also. Urmas Muru’s vision for the Pärnu Computation Centre was a graphical Neo-expressionist design that was characteristic of Rühm T’s works. The strong angle of perspective and black-and-white pencil tones proceed from buildings of technical function and appearance. This led to a unique style that Kurvits and Muru termed “technodelic expressionism”. They described ‘technodelics’ as a revelation of the technical world through trance. The museum acquired the drawing in 1993 from Urmas Muru.

Peeter Tarvas, 1943. EAM 40.1.1

Ellamaa power plant annexe

The Ellamaa power plant was opened on May 9, 1923. The outstanding industrial building, designed by architect Aleksandr Wladovsky, consisted of a switch and transformer building, a machine building, a peat gas generator building and a tower with a water tank at the top. By the end of the decade, the rapid growth of electricity consumption made it necessary to add a few buildings to the complex. During the war in 1941, a part of the power plant exploded. The building was soon restored according to a slightly different project from the original one, an extension was planned to increase the production capacity. In 1943, architect Peeter Tarvas prepared project for the restoration and reconstruction of the power plant. The architect placed a water tower in the center of the drawing, in the foreground are new substations added to the existing building. The annexe designed by Peeter Tarvas was not implemented. The Ellamaa power plant was closed in 1966, when the power supply was taken over by the kerogenite power plants located in Ida-Virumaa. The boiler house, which was completed in 1929, continued to operate and supplied the Turba village with room heat for a few decades after the power plant closure. Since 2018, the Motorsports Museum MOMU has been operating in the Ellamaa power plant building. Text: Anna-Liiza Izbaš

Leonhard Lapin, 1986–1988. EAM fond 68

Graphic series “Estonian Art of Architecture”

On December 29, Leonhard Lapin would have celebrated his 75th birthday. Lapin’s legacy is characterized by bold modernist architecture, but his work was far from limited to that. Leonhard Lapin has published poetry collections and was an outstanding art innovator. Recognizable are his pop-art-influenced graphics, distinctive architecture in urban spaces and art galleries. Leonhard Lapin has kindly brought his projects and works of art to the architecture museum over the years. This year, the architectural drawings in the home archive arrived here with his legacy. As a heartfelt addition, Leonhard Lapin’s son and daughter gave the museum 5 colorful letterpress graphics from the 1980s. The series is called “Estonian Art of Architecture” and depicts the work of various masters from the early decades of the 20th century: Nikolai von Glehn’s Palm House, Georg Hellat’s Art Nouveau old Endla theater-society house, National Romantic Kalevi Yacht Club Pirital (Karl Burman), Herbert Johanson and Eugen Habermann’s Riigikogu building and Tallinn 21. School designed by Artur Perna. Text: Sandra Mälk

Leonhard Lapin, 1975–1976. EAM 4.2.87 and Fk 821

Signs in front of the entrances to the Pärnu KEK housing complex

The housing complex of ​​Pärnu KEK includes constructive signs that are located in front of the terraced house called “Kuldne Kodu” (Golden Home). Although concrete was still a rarity as a material in the 1970s, materials were more available for the construction offices of the collective farms (kolkhozes). In the same spirit the terraced house that was constructed in monolithic concrete was completed with concrete-poured sculptures. According to Leonhard Lapin, the sculptural architectons offer a great way to present different ideas, and since it is free of restrictions, the small form allows to present the ideal architecture. The constructions in blue and other bright tones were more than just ideas, in fact. A monolithic structure with a different structure and color was planned in front of each entrance, so it was easy to find the right staircase of a terrace house that was about a kilometer long. In addition to directing, the architectons offered a rare view of abstract sculptures that were scarce in the Soviet public space. As well as the residential area itself, the signs were not fully implemented. In 2008, Andres Ringo handed over the architects’ drawings to the museum. Text: Sandra Mälk

(click on the picture to see more examples)

Anatoli Podtšekajev, 1924. EAM 2.2.249

Residential building in Tartu Tamme district

The architect Anatoli Podtšekajev, born in 1879 in the town of Opochka in the Pskov region, has left a unique mark on Tartu’s architectural history. Podtšekajev began his architectural studies at the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute. After the closure of the institute in 1905 and a subsequent break of a few years, Podtšekajev continued his studies at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated in 1910. Studying in two different schools and two different cities is probably the reason for the architect’s somewhat searching style, which seemed old-fashioned at the time. The architect moved to Tartu in the early 1920s, where he soon took up the post of city architect. Podtšekajev designed a number of residential buildings in the Tamme district, but buildings designed with his participation can also be found in other areas of Tartu. The four-apartment house in Tammelinn, which belonged to Mihkel Puusepp, is a building with a peculiar layout. On the ground floor, there are two two-room apartments with separate kitchens, a storage room and a hallway. On the upper floor, there are two one-bedroom apartments. Each apartment has a toilet. An interesting feature of the project is the two adjacent staircases in the middle of the building, one accessible from the street and the other from the courtyard. Consequently, there are two separate entrances to each apartment, one leading to the entrance hall and the other to the kitchen. Architectural historian Robert Treufeldt has thoroughly researched the life and work of architect Anatoli Podtšekajev.

August Volberg, 1936. EAM 31.1.13

Sanatorium named after General J. Laidoner in Haapsalu

The Estonian Red Cross sanatorium in Haapsalu, named after General Johan Laidoner, was designed by architect August Volberg. The building was completed in 1937. Built primarily for soldiers who had suffered in the War of Independence, the sanatorium had 41 double rooms and a spacious terrace with a sea view. The main architectural emphasis of the functionalist building is on the entrance and the glass wall of the stairwell above it. The high flagpole on the roof of the building and its distinctive curved base structure emphasise the importance of the sanatorium. The connection between the glass corner and the rest of the facade makes it possible to find links with the work of architect Walter Gropius in Germany. Text: Anna-Liiza Izbaš