PROJECTS
Tallinn Technical University (TTÜ) Faculty of Power Engineering
The composition of the volume of the building is based on the shape cube. This being the Faculty of Power Engineering the project invited us to draw connections between the shape and the energy.
In fact, people spend most of their lives in containers – in rooms of various shapes. It is generally known that the shape of a pyramid generates and accumulates certain fields of energy. While all forms of geometrical shapes resonate the energy of the Universe, the pyramid and the cube are especially potent. All kinds of movement, change and activity are based on energy which can be understood as power.
The new building of the Faculty of Power Engineering contains four departments:
– Department of Electrical Power Engineering
– Department of Electrical Drives and Power Electronics
– Department of Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and Machinery
– Department of Mining
In this building the full potential of the originality is intentionally focused towards the configuration and the interior while leaving the view from land discreet.
When viewed from the direction of Merivälja the building looks modest and buried behind the trees. The side the sea is covered with glass and copper plate. The building is design without balconies that would see little use in this windy location in the cold Estonian climate. The basement floor nevertheless has terraces which can be connected with the rooms by opening the sliding doors on sunny and warm days.
The functional scheme departs from the entrance towards the Ranna Street including a separate bus stop waiting pavilion and rooms for shops and food stands. From the side and on the level of the jetty the entrance opens to the pier and can also be used by people engaged in water sports.
When viewed from the sea the architecture of the building has a configuration resembling a ship.
The volume of the building along the Ranna Street features slightly tilted surfaces creating an impression of “running away” from the viewer. This contributes to the goal of making the new building as little noticeable as possible when viewed from the land.
Saarenportti architectural design competition (1st place)
The Land of Santa Claus, Rovaniemi County in Finland, held an architectural design competition to create a symbolic gate to the land. The Centre would have included the municipal government, a hotel, a shopping mall and the “gate”. The latter is symbolised in this winning project by an azure globe showing the polar circle and Rovaniemi which is placed above the passage to the entrance. The building, having the volume of a square and called “Nabatuurium” symbolises the meeting place of the two polar circles – on one side of the thick granite wall dividing the building live the penguins, on the other side the polar bears. The hotel has a triangular shape and symbolises the tundra.
This task – the concept design of a two-story hotel with 34 rooms – was indeed an experimental project as the goal was to create the first passive building in Estonia.
What is a passive building?
Passive building is a of the concepts that has been scientifically developed to see the limits of energy efficiency in buildings. What differentiates it from zero-energy or zero-heating energy buildings is that the goal of a passive building is not to achieve the absolute minimum of the required heating but the realistically doable minimal level which will enable to give up the active heating system. From architectural point of view design a passive building is in many ways different from a regular building.
Saekoja hotel, located near a golf course a few kilometres from Otepää in Southern Estonia, is planned to cover 2300 sq m.
Rovakate OY headquarters architectural design competition (1st place)
The office-warehouse was constructed based on the winning project at the architectural design contest.
Rovakate OY is a roofing company. The shape of the building results from the combination of the shape of the lot and the need for a big warehouse leaving the office part with relatively little volume. An important goal of the design was to use techniques and proportions which enable the office part to look bigger and stand out.
The narrow window line on the second floor is only 48 cm high and runs right at the eye-level when seated behind the desk. The office part is 22 m long and 7 m wide. Between the office and warehouse parts lies a partly covered roof terrace with grass. The façade of the warehouse is a big tilted roof which is covered with rubber bitumen in “rima-roof” technique to showcase the work of Rovakate OY.
