WEATHERS / Sean Lally . Morris Architects

Estonian Academy of Arts . Tallin

weathers

The Estonian Academy of Art (EAA) asserts its identity and position within the city of Tallin at both the level of the school’s internal operations as well as the level of its integration and connection with the city’s need for public programs, including parks, garden space, galleries, and shops.

This relationship between the internal operations of the EAA and its means for contributing to the city’s infrastructure is a critical feature of its design.
The relationship between the student and the city is mediated through a year-round public park. A series of “Artificial Climatic Lungs” located in six zones along the building connect the school
above to a public park below. The park itself is located on top of the school’s primary mechanical systems and workshop half a story off the street, collecting and amplifying the building’s captured energy to produce lush artificial gardens throughout Estonia’s long winters. The zones also provide full-spectrum lighting to counteract the short daylight hours of winter. The building’s light source for close to a third of the year comes not from the sky above, but from the glass “lungs” below: the true façade of the building. This façade visually connects the student studios to the public below while maintaining a necessary security of space. As these “lungs” move up the building through three levels of studios, they also act as thermal collectors: as heat rises to the top toward the upper floors, it pools internally within the enclosed roof for external use by the students as they enter from the floor above. These organizational devices are exposed to the external environment, but are nested internally in the building envelope and fed by the building’s heat.

Estonian Academy of Arts
Collaborators: Morris Architects
Location: Tallin, Estonia
Date: 2008, Size: 30,000 m2
Type: Two stage competition