Estonian Art 2' 2001


	Invasion of Privacy. Residencial Architecture in the Loop
	Tarmo Maiste



	The exhibition entitled The Residence (compiled by Tarmo Maiste and Arne Maasik), which took place between 15 October and 12 November in the St. Canute's Guild House is an overview of private residential houses designed by Estonian architects in the course of 80 years. The exhibition also celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Estonian Architects' Association (EAA).

	The selection focused on privately commissioned quality architecture which aims to improve the value of life and raise ordinary people's expectations of the environment. Special-project buildings are actually quite numerous. In the introduction to the exhibition, the EAA chairman Kalle Vellevoog writes: "The building of Estonian private houses has become a unique area with strong traditions that sets us apart from our economically much more advanced northern neighbours. The invasion of the real estate development has resulted in the emergence of villages consisting of dull featureless standard buildings. The share of individual projects and quality architecture is nevertheless remarkable." The tradition originated in the 1920s, and has survived to this day. The first houses presented at the exhibition were built about 80 years ago, for example Karl Burman's house in Õie Street dating to 1923. Although the architecture of the first half of the 1920s should primarily be associated with traditionalist styles, the houses of that period could be regarded as forerunners of and influences on the modernist movement that established itself at the end of the decade. The movement did not arrive in a radical form, denying everything that had been before, as it did in Western Europe, but rather sought a synthesis with earlier experience. As a pioneer of its time, the movement encouraged seeking and experimenting, culminating in the 1930s with Olev Siinmaa's villas in Pärnu. A fairly large number of high-quality private houses emerged during the next decades as well, and clearly exhibited fresh world ideas. "This was a field where the architects were able to fulfill their creative ideas in the evening, after a day spent in the over-standardised and over-regimented Soviet society." (Vellevoog)

	The exhibition The Residence (ERAMU) focused on the continuous historical development of Estonian architecture. Despite disruptions and fragmentation, an attempt was made to show a more coherent overall picture and reveal common denominators.

	Private houses A private house has been described as a place where a family is protected and sticks together. Such a house is also a reflection of social status, thus being simultaneously both an intimate and public place. Plots of land in Estonia are usually quite small, and neighbours are thus right behind one's window. There is no natural privacy, which intensifies the significance of protective function even more. Curtains conceal the daily lives of the inhabitants from strangers' eyes - their sleeping, reading, eating and washing take place behind an advertising façade that acts as an image, with only those initiated involved in the 'rituals'. While gathering material for the exhibition, we often found ourselves in a situation where people only agreed to the recording of the exterior. What went on in the house was supposed to remain hidden. The image of a private house emerges as an abstract architectural composition that displays precious few signs of human activity. This attitude was also evident in the house owners' wish to remove all things lying around and tuck them out of sight. Garden chairs, toys, drying clothes, etc. are items that have no proper place in the system. The message of a building must be a 'clean and tidy' image recorded by the photographer - a picture that describes the inhabitants only in the language of abstract meanings of bulk and building materials. At the same time it demonstrates great respect for the architect. The environment that grows out of the direct dialogue between the future owner of the house and the architect, expressing the wishes and needs of both, achieves a certain level of holiness. The emerging association is intimate and delicate, full of agreements and duties. Entering each other's private spheres, they are mutually invasive - the client interferes in the architect's world of ideas, while the architect 'wanders around' in the family's bathroom, hall, kitchen and living room, finding a place for the beds, TV set and fridge. This kind of mutual indiscretion finally leads to a space that is acceptable to all concerned - a balance that often turns out to be so fragile that it tends to vanish at the slightest subsequent change. Even when a project has a certain infinity coded into it, the continuous process requires concessions on both sides.

	The houses executed according to contemporary designs have been associated with the emergence of modernist villas at the start of the previous century when economic growth enabled the wealthy to commission modern houses in order to demonstrate their success. Others had the option of buying a standard-project house. A similar scheme functions today as well. Private houses satisfying minimal needs are associated rather with residential areas for workers in the 1920s and 1930s. The buildings themselves might not be mediocre at all, either in terms of architecture or bulk; the problem lies primarily in the spatial environment that should express a closer contact with the contemporary planning process.

	Focus on the 1990s Treating the topic of the dwelling in the context of the 80th anniversary of EAA, we will have a look, first of all, at private houses completed in the course of the last 10 years. The construction boom of the 1990s, still continuing today, is possible thanks to the steady growth of the economy. The houses carry on the tradition of previous decades, displaying a close connection with the trends of contemporary world architecture. Capitalism opened up society, resulting in the emergence of private houses as expressions of liberalisation, individualism and personal freedom. In the early 1990s these houses still carried on the tradition of postmodern excesses. This period, however, was short-lived, and the best houses reflect simplicity, naturalness and a blending into the surroundings. The so-called white functionalism still flourishes. Merging with the expressionist, metaphysical or minimalist approach, the general impression of these houses is Nordically cool, with dominating clear-cut geometrical bulk-images. The best examples here are perhaps the houses by Kalle Vellevoog and Emil Urbel.

	A traditional building material, wood, is still extensively used. One reason may be the abundance of the local raw material, since a large part of Estonia is covered by forests. Wooden houses, however, cannot be considered only in the light of traditions - despite occasional unusual roofs and 'archaic' bulk, the form language of the buildings is prevailingly laconic and matter-of-fact, and, one could say, it originates in the modernist movement. The list of such private houses is fairly long. Mention should be made of wooden houses designed by Martin Aunin, Urmas Muru and Peeter Pere, the architectural firm 3+1 (Markus Kaasik, Kalle Komissarov, Merje Müürisepp, Andres Ojari, Indrek Tiigi, Ilmar Valdur) and Vahur Sova. A new notion appeared at the end of the decade - an ecological way of life that is still being discovered. Architect Sova describes the situation precisely, characterising a house in Leppneeme (2001) which he designed: "Ecological house. What does that mean? To what extent is it ecological? An additional appliance working on solar energy to heat the house, using rain water in the toilet, a natural cleaning area of waste water, a turf roof and clay walls to create a more suitable micro-climate. Most important, though, is the view of the sea."

	Structure of the private house - structure of living What prevails in the planning solution of private houses are 'the living room through two storeys', the 'open kitchen', a room for each family member, and other such ideas derived from the modernist tradition. The principle of a flowing space, as it were, is often used as well. This denotes the part of the house that is meant solely for common usage. The inner structure of the house is mostly divided traditionally: the dining room between the kitchen and living room, bedrooms upstairs, and 'public' spaces separated from private ones. Great emphasis is laid on hygiene: each house includes at least 2 bathrooms, and sometimes there is a toilet attached to each bedroom. An inevitable part of each house is the sauna, fireplace and terrace. The currently so popular style of working from home does not much alter the functional scheme of a house either, because modern equipment does not require a large area. The stability of a family's way of life has directed the architects mostly towards solving problems connected with capacity. Simple walls are easy to rearrange if any alterations are deemed necessary. It is thus pointless to dwell on possible future scenarios - the architect relies on the situation and needs of the moment. Adapting the house to its surroundings is also of utmost importance in order to achieve a fascinating environment. The dimensions of the house derive or get their final form from the peculiarities of the plot of land. "Out of respect for the holy place, the buildings stand on pillars." (Vilen Künnapu about one of his designs); "The hidden quality of the plot was meant for someone who could interpret the place not by imposing traditions on it, but by adapting himself to the surrounding nature." (Indrek Allmann); "I received the idea of how the house could grow out of the land from the location: a bare plot of land at the edge of the klint, a view of the sea and Tallinn, cows, expanse." (Martin Aunin). The different parts of the building thus find their place and form a uniform system with the exterior. A solution is found that satisfies the inhabitants, the author and the passers-by. As a conclusion, one could use architect E.J. Kuusik's words that were also the motto of the ERAMU exhibition: "If we require each native speaker to show respect towards the forms of language, we should be even more eager to have correct grammar in architecture, because buildings do not vanish into the air like sounds, but stay for decades and centuries."


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