Semele Kari, our master’s student at the Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, was awarded the Tallinn City Government’s Scholarship Grant for her master’s thesis researching the possible intermediate public use of buildings, which she will defend this spring (supervisors Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla and Kaja Pae).
In her master’s thesis, Semele proposes the intermediate use of the former military barracks at Tondi 57 in Tallinn, which would fill the “waiting time” of the building with intermediate public use.
The proposal for the intermediate use was developed in co-operation with local people through joint creation. Based on the conclusions of the joint venture, Semele focussed on creating a temporary solution – opening up the soon-to-disappear world to a wider audience, for the last time. At the moment, there is no place in the Tondi residential area for year-round social interaction with neighbours: the barrack building could operate as a community center in the intermediate stage, mediating contact between people and the municipality in physical space.
The intermediate use, which precedes the completion of the final construction project of the building, introduces people to the valuable ruins of interior architecture, to consider their preservation in the future, and pays attention to the visual aesthetics and the spatial experience.
According to Semele, the intermediate use of abandoned interior is of interest to her as an awareness-raising opportunity, because the preserved interior contains qualities that cannot be artificially recreated later: “When choosing resources, I usually consider the reuse and recycling of existing material. Everything that has survived so far is worth preserving in the future if it has aesthetic value. The result achieved with simple and minimal solutions highlights the ease of interpreting history in the new project.”
Semele holds a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts and has also studied at the Plymouth Academy of Arts and Tartu Art School. Semele is also a laureate of the Vello Asi Student Award from 2020.
The purpose of the City of Tallinn City Scholarship is to support and recognize successful master’s and doctoral students in research and teaching.
You can hear more about Semele Kari Tondi’s master’s thesis on the intermediate use of the barracks during the defense of the master’s theses of the Department of Interior Architecture of EKA, which will take place on June 6 at 10 am in room A501.
Congratulations, Semele!