What looks like ruins in Tartu’s Annelinn is actually a new space for locals to relax, designed and built by architecture students from the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA).
The installation, titled “Varem,” stands next to Annelinn Library, reflecting on the final stage of a building’s life cycle — when its original use has seemingly ended but no new purpose has yet been found.
Project author Jako Julius Schmid said the hands-on build, which took place in the span of less than two weeks, contrasted sharply with the classroom work that preceded it.
“The difference between drawings on paper and building on site became clear immediately,” Schmid said. “Many tasks took three times longer than planned, but there were also stages that went more smoothly than expected.”
The past two weeks, he added, proved that working as a team, they can handle anything.
Schmid said local residents followed the project throughout construction, and would come over to check out what they were doing. Since this wasn’t the first time EKA students have built something new in Annelinn, they knew to expect something good.
“Locals like it when something new pops up in their neighborhood,” he added.
Variety amid the uniform
Studio instructor Helena Männa said the idea behind the new installation is to rethink and play with urban spaces.
“Annelinn is visually very uniform,” Männa said, adding that the student-built project will provide locals with a little more variety, including somewhere they can sit down and relax.
“Varem” will remain in place for five years, and Männa hopes that by the end of that time, there will still be something left of it that catches the attention of passersby.
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