kaire 
‘The most creative and necessary work that humans do is work with the soil as co-producers with nature.’Vandana Shiva, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis (2008). The fading light of progress Half a century ago, a group of scientists devised a computational model of how the Earth’s natural and economic
I have long waited for bread-focused restaurants or kiosks to appear in Tallinn, since good, fresh bread—whether sourdough, baguette, or brioche—is one of my greatest weaknesses. Happily enough, two such places sprang up almost at the same time. In the summer of 2024, the red-and-white Sai! opened on the edge of the Old Town, serving kurja koera võikus (literally ‘angry dog sandwiches’ in Estonian); at the end of the year, it was followed by the predominantly blue-toned Sanga in the Rotermann Quarter.
Kaisa Sööt, Margit Säde, Regina Viljasaar-Frenzel, and Liina-Liis Urke—the initiators, architects, and heaters of the community-run Logi Sauna in Tallinn city centre—talk to Diana Drobot and Linda-Li Arro about applying common sense in an urban environment, collaborating with the public sector, and having the courage to intervene in urban space.
Indrek Rünkla’s reflection on the nature of architectural work and the limits and paradoxes inherent in defining it.
In exchange for work, we have been promised freedom, love, and money. It is said that doing work may even make one wish to prolong that beautiful moment. Work is measured in joules, hours, and euros. Work will still be there tomorrow anyway; a work well done speaks for itself; work kills, work feeds, and, where possible, makes a man out of a monkey.
The 2010s were a time of glorious abundance. For architects, it was a time of constant commissions and few questions—a time fuelled by extraction and expansion. New towers rose, the old came down. The decade unfolded in the long shadow of the 2008 financial crisis. When housing markets collapsed—first in the United States, then across
Madli Kaljuste invited Mari Rass, Ülo-Tarmo Stöör and Mihkel Tüür to discuss architects’ labour.
Laura Linsi talks to Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, and Helena Männa to discuss whether the cornerstone in the renovation marathon is the concrete panel—or whether it is strong human relationships instead.
CHARACTERS: Pensioner: A nostalgia-prone elder of the tenement who wants to keep the costs of living and construction as low as possible. Afraid of change, doubtful of novel solutions. Barely accepts the need for any renovation. As a result, often considered bothersome by the other residents. Chorus: Three residents who represent a chorus. Easily influenced
Understanding concrete today requires more than appreciating its technical performance, writes Christian Roth from Baukreisel. It also means confronting its ecological and economic downsides. With the project concrete.matters, for which Baukreisel received the Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth, they focus on scalable practices of concrete reuse in architecture.
I am standing amidst a stony Mediterranean mountain landscape with sparse wintertime vegetation. The sky is clear; some sheep and a donkey are grazing in the distance; the mountains further away appear quite high with their snowy peaks. The whole scene evokes an almost alpine idyll and a sense of safe, timeless existence somewhere behind