These two texts by Keller Easterling, a professor at the Yale School of Architecture, accompany the double issue (61/62) of Ehituskunst magazine, which focuses on the shrinking (small) cities of Estonia. The theme of shrinking reveals that the traditional architects’ toolbox is primarily suited to the context of growth, which can be shaped by adding object forms. Dealing with shrinkage, where there is less direct control over circumstances, would require an expansion of the conventional toolbox.
Two short works by Keller Easterling, translated for this collection, contribute to this expansion. The first text in the collection, “Medium design” (2018), is a manifest defense of the design of space through surroundings and circumstances. The second text in the collection, “Subtraction” (2014), presents one example of the application of the approach presented in the previous one. The text draws attention to the other side of construction – demolition – and its underutilized ability to shape space at very different scales.
Ehituskunsti Raamatukogu series #3
Translated by Eik Hermann
Edited by Neeme Lopp and Anti Saar
Copy editor: Terje Tammearu
Designed by Martin Rästa
104 pages, in Estonian
Estonian Academy of Arts Press, 2022
ISBN 978-9916-619-66-7