6, rue desagues, 75011, Paris, FR
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Estonian National Museum
Tartu, Estonia - first prize
The Proposal of Dorell Ghotmeh Tane for this Museum was somehow unexpected for the competition Jury, considering Estonia’s recent history and struggle with the Soviet Occupation. Having as the competition site the northern degenerated area of the city of Tartu, the winning Architects chose to investigate the reasons why this site was for a long time ‘alienated’ from the city. Turning out to be a former Soviet military base, the site allocated for this national museum incited the Architects to connect the Museum with the element that is today the most physically present ‘ruin’ of what is for Estonian as ‘painful’ days: a military Airfield. They believed that the Museum should play an essential role in the regeneration of the whole area and to do so, it has to start by dealing with this heavily charged and spatially unique airfield.