Different clients organized two consequent competitions for the residential buildings at 15 and 21 Toom-Kuninga Street, Tallinn. We managed to win them both. The first proposal was made in 2015, the second one in 2016. 
The apartment buildings at Toom-Kuninga street form an urban block in the Uus-Maailm neighbourhood. The well-observable location is next to an open space of the stadium from one side and 2-4 storied wooden residential houses from the other side. Toom-Kuninga Street has a characteristic terrain rising towards the National Library. 
The design of the houses attempts to be very contextual. The volumes proposed by the detail-plan are divided into smaller units to connect to the surrounding scale. The articulation of the buildings is reinforced by different materials that establish a diverse habitation environment. The ground floor facing the street is meant for retail.

Team

Interior design

Engineering

Landscape

Photography

Web pages

Toom-Kuninga apartments

The pavilion stands on the foundation of an old market-hall. It is designed as a lightweight timber construction. The exterior walls between the structural columns are made of curtain wall elements making the pavilion transparent and light. The load-bearing structure is made of laminated timber: cross-shaped and half-cross-shaped columns. The ground floor is roofed by glued timber corbel vaults.  The pavilion is an integral part of the Tammsaare park. The connecting feature is the stepped shape of the corbel vault also reflected in the design of the light poles, information stands and playground equipment. The timber structure is finished with white weatherproof polymeric paint and treated with fireproofing.
The timber vaults grow into domes on the roof and a spatial vault ceiling in the interior and under the canopy. The prefabricated roof elements turn the top of the pavilion into a kind of a landscape that looks interesting also from above, for example, from the upper floors of Opera-house.
&nbsp;

Builder

Tammsaare Park pavilion

Legendary W. Shakespeare’s play „A Midsummer Night’s Dream“ got a lighter and modernized look and feel over summer months of 2016 at Tallinn City Theatre. According to director Jaanus Rohumaa, all the events of this play are taking place around the year 2016 and not in the distance abstract past. That approach had to be emphasized by the set design, costumes and music. The production was staged in a BlackBox where physical objects had to stay at the same place, although they could change their meaning and function during the show. Set designers’ take on these topics, and constrains was to strip down all the decorations and narrative elements, which left us with pure functional and fundamental shapes. Since physical objects didn’t carry meaning by themselves, it was left to the actors to apply it on them. For example, the same rope structure had to play forest or a modern chandelier at the villa in the later stage of the play; a pile of boxes played hills and auditorium seating etc. Along with the actors who applied meaning on their physical surroundings, the audience could also wander around with their mind’s eye and play out their interpretation on these objects.

Director

Costumes

Homepage

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Designed and built in 2 weeks for Photographic Art Fair in Tallinn 2011. The installation was located in two places – the Independence Square and KUMU courtyard. Camera’s walls are built from spruce and treated with pine tar.

Camera Obscura

The outdoor theatre stage is built especially for a run of 12 performances of one play during the summer.  Its main architectural goal is to form a closed, comfortable and intimate space that creates an immediate connection with the audience and the actors. The architecture frames the landscape in a way that the park, trees and the pond become an integral part of the stage-set. The light wooden construction provides space and enables changing stage lighting dynamically. &#8220;We have tried to avoid a concrete narrative in this solution. The stage is an abstraction, which sets the mood.  We have approached the era and theme of the theatre project (beginning of the 20th century, futurism, young poets) from a different angle to visualize a complicated moment in European history.&#8221; The material we chose for the stage is 50&#215;50 mm timber, which is an excellent natural material and easy to dismantle, so it gives the theatre a possibility to re-use it for any new constructions within upcoming plays. The audience podium has 420 seats, and the stage area is 280 m². &#8220;After 12 performances the stage will be dismantled and the timber and boards used for other things. There is no need to use complicated materials; wood is a nice material that architects can easily understand and work with; it is also weather-proof.&#8221;

Direcror

Noor Eesti scenery

The architecture of the canopy is unambiguous and straightforward. Most of the design process was done in a fishing boat and forest cabin, together with our engineer during one fishing trip. The structural design made it possible to leave a large span in the middle, which allows cyclists and pedestrians to pass through the canopy easily. We aimed to use as less as possible different layers of constructional materials and finishing. Loadbearing elements are painted yellow from the outside, and the rest of it is just wood as it is. The simple form complements the current situation without becoming too dominant.

Rakvere Canopy

This private building fits perfectly inside a beautiful pine forest. It&#8217;s one of the biggest greeneries inside Tallinn, and it consists of a couple of most essential cemeteries also. The calmness of a forest is almost sacral, and the house is not a dominant shape there. The building&#8217;s floor plan is organic, and it opens different views when moving from room to room. The shed and the house are covered with larch which is treated with ferrous sulphate solution.

Villa DB

One storey high building is located in Saue parish Koidu village in a private housing area. Plot and the movement of the sunlight inspired the geometry of the house to catch as much warm southern and western sunlight as possible. The building is a shape-shifter offering different views from every angle.
The main building was erected on the western side of the area while the grill house stands on the east side of the plot inside a small hill and acts as an echo of the main building. Between these two volumes, an inner rectangular courtyard is formed with golden ratio proportions. The landscape protects the yard from traffic noise and provides privacy.
Spacious living room, with a height up to 6 meters, is located on the western side of the building and opens into both south and west. The living room is fluently connected with the terrace outside. The shape of the patio is also designed to follow the sun and catch as much southern and western light as possible. There is a chance that a neighbouring house will block the west sunlight in the future. A particular sun window has been placed higher from the eye-level to maintain the access of the valuable evening light into the living room.
Majority of the building construction is made of stone and laminated wood. The facades are covered with painted larch wood.

House in Koidu Village

The reconstruction of this private house follows the former structure’s L shape. The previous pitched roof is replaced with a lower flat roof.
The reconstruction preserves the relations of several rooms from the previous era. The garage is situated on the north-east side of the plot and connects to Aate street.
The facades are covered with larch wood, and the edges of the eaves are lined with larch wood elements, which make a framework for vines to grow and provide additional protection from direct sunlight. The material selection has to blend the building into the surroundings, which is defined mostly by the tall pine trees.
The ground floor is for living, with the entrance, kitchen, living, dining room and sauna. The second floor is where the bedrooms are situated. The basement houses a studio and technical utilities.

House in Nõmme

Arcwood by Peetri Puit is an Estonian company that produces engineered wood products from laminated wood to CLT panels with a big part of the work being custom made orders. Their new factory, opened in 2016, is located in Põlva, southern Estonia.
Initially, the intention was to build two separate buildings – an office and a simple factory building. During the work process, those two merged together with the office block acting as a presentable entrance for both employees of the office as well as workers of the factory. Cylindrical columns in front of the door create a unique landscape that continues in the courtyard.
The entire complex was constructed out of wood &#8211; the main load-bearing construction is made from laminated timber while CLT panels are used for walls. All of the structures are displayed and visible. Exterior wood elements are protected from the sun, wind and rain with a double facade made out of glass. This creates a half exterior half interior space that can be used by the employees as a balcony.
Wood is a primary theme throughout the complex, it continues in the interior architecture, in the office block, as well as in the factory part of the building. Bare wood construction elements create a warm and friendly interior space in the usually cold and empty production facility. Skylights, located right above the workstations, let in some natural light to the closed factory.