Blog Interior Scholarship
April 2021
Bloggerin: Marie Jõgi

In my first blog post I would like to describe a little bit my 3rd year students main project in autumn semester 2020 at Estonian Academy of arts. For me it stood out from all the previous school projects, due to its complexity and large area for designing.

Our task was to design new spaces for the Estonian National Library (Architect: Raine Karp) and come up with new ways of using already built places. The complexity of this project had to do with the fact that the building is already there, with its history and value. So, my mission was to design human friendly spaces that would be more useful today and in the future, but also keep in mind what is already there, so that I would not destroy anything valuable. I think for all the students it was a play with balance between new and old, past, now and future.

This project also included many smaller subjects within, among them lighting design and concept, acoustics, and ventilation, as these elements of interior design play important roles in every comfortable and user-friendly room and especially in public and shared spaces like libraries.

In the design concept I was asking myself how to use books and shelves in the interior, also how movement is important between sitting still and working. As a result, I reused balcony areas for community gardening and possibilities to have a brief walk between reading books. From bookshelves I created a little book city where it is possible to dive into the world of books. I was thinking about different ways of working and sitting. For example, I designed some spaces for kneeling or even cycling with indoor bikes since I believe that movement and a healthy way of working is important for mental processes and great outcome.

In this project, I was concentrating on many aspects. On one side how to create fun and inspiring spaces that are inviting to people and on the other hand how to give the space the best way of use. I believe it is a kind of balance that an interior architect always has to find.