This year, the scholarship founded by the State Real Estate Ltd was given to Märten Peterson, a fifth-year student of Architecture and Urban Planning, to develop his MA project “Looking for the vernacular with contemporary technology.”
Märten Peterson’s MA project aims to develop a new construction method based on local materials. The innovative aspect of his project stems from the fresh choice of materials and use of contemporary software. Peterson is developing a composite material that mostly consists of peat and oil shale ash in cooperation with University of Tartu scientists (Jüri Liiva, PhD; Tõnis Teppandi; Toomas Tenno, PhD; Ergo Rikmann). His MA project proposes a solution for using this material for printing energy-efficient 3D buildings with an optimised construction. The goal of the project is to become the first example of Neo-Vernacular Architecture in Estonia.
“I believe that Estonian peat deserves greater appreciation than bulk peat, which is exported for use in horticulture and cosmetics. We should look for ways to find better uses for this excellent resource and perhaps export it with a higher added value,” says Märt Peterson.
“My project will benefit the Estonian real estate sector because it could turn into something significant that can help Estonia stand out internationally. 3D-printing makes it possible to develop a new type of design. During the course of the project, there are plans to simulate both the printing process and the internal forces of the shell structure, and produce one segment of the structure with the school’s robotic arm at the end of the project. There is reason to believe that the use of the robotic arm in the printing process of monolithic peat buildings will offer a competitive advantage or even a ‘budget solution’ for the real estate market,” explains Peterson in his EAA master’s thesis.
The supervisors of Märten Peterson’s MA project are EAA architecture teachers, Director Martin Melioranski (diploma architect, MAArch, MScAAD) and Senior Researcher Renee Puusepp (diploma architect, MArch, MSc, PhD) from 3D Lab, and Jüri Liiv (scientist, chemical engineer, PhD) from the Estonian Peat Research Centre/University of Tartu Chemicum and Tõnis Teppand (architect, construction engineer).
The State Real Estate Ltd scholarship for master’s studies aims to raise the students’ motivation to study, help them choose a speciality subject and foster a new generation of academic personnel. The size of the scholarship is 1,800 euros and it is appointed to one student chosen by the scholarship committee. Read more (in Estonian)
Märten Peterson
Scholarship award ceremony at the EAA Government meeting on 10 January 2017
Rector Mart Kalm (on the left) congratulates Märten Peterson (on the right) at the EAA Government meeting on 10 January 2017
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Solveig Jahnke
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Estonian Academy of Arts