students build floating structures for a seasonally-flooded area in estonia

a group of students from architecture, design and art universities recently took part in a summer workshop in estonia’s soomaa forests and national park. as part of the program, the young creatives were challenged to respond to the unique climactic conditions of the area by building a series of floating architectural structures that adapt to the park’s distinct landscape.

all images by tõnu tunnel

a mixture of boglands and rivers, soomaa is severely altered by flooding rivers each year, where water flows over grasslands, forests, fields and roads, disrupting its connection with the surrounding context. while locals and visitors use boats to navigate the territory, the students wanted to explore the different types of floating interventions they could build that would respond to the needs of people in the area.

organized by the estonian academy of arts interior architecture department, the students have conceived ‘VEETEE’ (water way) as three floating structures — a shelter, a fireplace and a sauna — in response to the changing and challenging environment of the landscape. two of the three objects have now been opened to the public as an exploration of how experimental forest infrastructure could provide for the needs of people living in, or visiting, the area.

tutored by architect and artist sami rintala from finland, architect pavle stamenovic from serbia, estonian architecture office b210, and professor hannes praks, head of the estonian academy of arts interior architecture department, the structures join a larger network of forest infrastructure organized by the state forest management centre of estonia, which includes a series of forest megaphones built by students last year.

sami rintala puts the learning and building process in wilderness in wider context: as an attempt to deal with contemporary challenges, both planetary and local, it is necessary and clever to jump outside the usual game and stratagem of the urban professional life, and seek a counter­-phenomena out on the ‘edge’, where people are ripped off from their roles and positions, and need to act on a common ground. people’s real needs emerge, and they need to be fulfilled, and meanwhile ‘design’ becomes just part of ‘making’.

project info:

materials: timber (spruce), metal barrels, metal strapping tape, screws
dimensions: 3.8m (l) x 3.8m (w) x 2.7m (h, from keel to top) weight: approx. 700 kg (approx. 1540 lbs)
website: https://www.ekasisearhitektuur.ee/projects/veetee/
blog: http://wildernesssummerschool.tumblr.com/
tutors: sami rintala (finland); pavle stamenovic (serbia); b210 architects (estonia); hannes praks (estonia)
students: alden jõgisuu, andrea tamm, andres mutis, berglind erna tryggvadóttir, brigita kasperaitè, dan theman docherty, finlay barge, gabriel müller, gerda kaasik, kadri erdel, kristiina veinberg, laura müürsepp, siim karro, stefano prevosti, triin mänd, tuva ina sofia björk
supporters: pärlin, karula puit, espak viljandi, viljandi metall, viljandi kaminakoda, hansaflex, würth, rmk, ants viljandi, eesti kultuurkapital, dag reklaam, liviko, ramsi turvas

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