The J. Holt scholarship will be presented to Valerii Kirnberg by EKA Rector Hilkka Hiiop and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture Sille Pihlak.
This year’s Jaan Holt Scholarship is awarded to Valerii Krinberg, a student of architecture and urban planning, for his outstanding and active professional activities.
Architecture students are encouraged already 6th year by Jaan Holt, an Estonian architect of Virginia origin and Professor Emeritus of Virginia Tech, with a scholarship. The purpose of the scholarship is to support the studies, creative activities and self-development of one successful student of the last year of architecture and urban planning at EKA. The amount of the scholarship is 1000 euros.
The scholarship committee included Dr. Sille Pihlak, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture of EKA, Prof. Andres Ojari, Head of Curricula and Prof. Toomas Tammis, Head of Master’s Studios. According to the committee, Valerii Krinberg is a student who is both professionally and socially active, with the courage and proactivity to express his thoughts independently.
In his master’s thesis, Valerii explores the possibilities of creating space based on the principles of non-hierarchy, organic mutual aid and self-organisation.
Excerpt from the master’s thesis description: “In my research, I focus on the Harku forest, which is under pressure from urban expansion and resource use. Instead of subjecting it to private ownership or state planning, it could be considered a “commons” — a space managed by the community, not by market or bureaucratic mechanisms. My project proposes six different spatial conditions that create a balance between people and nature. The central idea is a community-managed public space that functions as a place for decision-making, skill sharing and food distribution. It is based on the Public-Common Partnership concept, where land management is decentralized and democratic.”
Jaan Holt is a long-time director and professor emeritus of the Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Center for Architecture and an honorary member of the Estonian Academy of Arts. He has been a long-term supporter of Estonian architectural education, creating opportunities for many of our architects to exchange at the Architecture Center since 1992, where a large number of architects with an art academy background have been teaching and studying.