This year’s BAUA Award for the Best Architecture Student in the Baltic States went to Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) graduate Ella Mari Roosi for her master’s thesis Carrying Care: The Time in Between Usage in the Context of a Shrinking City. The jury’s special prize was awarded to Vilnius Academy of Arts graduate Vilius Jagminas for his master’s thesis Reconstruction of the Former Builders’ Palace of Culture into a Contemporary Cultural and Sports Centre.
Winning Project Explores Architecture, Care, and the Future of Shrinking Cities
Ella Mari Roosi’s master’s thesis, Carrying Care: The Time in Between Usage in the Context of a Shrinking City (supervisors: Roland Reemaa, Laura Linsi, and Eik Hermann), explores the relationship between care and architecture, examining how the two can be brought together in the context of shrinking cities.
The project investigates how spatial interventions can help care for abandoned buildings and create opportunities for their reuse. Roosi proposes a guide to care-based spatial design built around three categories: reduced heated space, supporting structures, and spaces of public attention.
An important aspect of the project is the social dimension of care: who will take responsibility for ongoing maintenance and upkeep, what local resources can be mobilised, and how architectural interventions can respond to the actual capacities of local communities.
The underlying philosophy of the project is that care-based spatial design is not about creating something new, but rather about supporting what already exists and enabling it to endure.
The BAUA Awards aim to present, compare, and celebrate the best student works in architecture across the Baltics. The competition serves as a platform for young architects to showcase their creativity, receive professional feedback, and engage with the international architectural community. It reflects the educational standards and outcomes of architecture schools in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, fostering dialogue, collaboration, and professional connections among emerging architects and academia.
Founded in 2012, the BAUA Awards rotate annually among the Baltic capitals. This autumn, the region’s most promising young architects gathered in Riga to share their ideas and celebrate architectural excellence.
Estonia’s participation in the competition was supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.