Architecture and Urban Design

The art of creating and building systems

Architecture creates a material framework and conditions for the functioning and development of the whole society. In a narrower sense, architecture is the art of creating and building systems.

It is often thought that an architect only designs houses, but that is only a small, albeit prominent part of the architect’s work. Architecture also includes learning about engineering, the humanities, and various software, building endless models and prototypes to create and experiment with new structures and worlds. The most important part of architectural education takes place as practical work in a studio, in an environment similar to an architectural office, where an actual project is born from the initial sketches. Theory and engineering subjects, painting, drawing and experimental studios support the studio work.

The latter is related to the laboratories of the Faculty of Architecture (3D Laboratory, VR Laboratory, PAKK) and the research work carried out in it, where it is possible to touch the fringes of space creation. There, you can acquire knowledge and specialise in restoration, landscape architecture or planning.

Our vision for the future

Architects have the difficult task of giving modern technology a commonly comprehensible material form and face in accordance with cultural expectations; create a whole from parts whose value is greater than the sum of any individual parts. Architecture is meant to constantly innovate, rebuild and offer different visions of the future – this is also one of the important ambitions of EKA’s architecture programme.

Read more about the curriculum here.

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News and events

26-04-09 Katarina Bonnevier2

KVI + ARH Open Lecture: Katarina Bonnevier “Living Organisms”

The 2025/2026 academic year open lecture series will be held in collaboration with the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture and the Faculty of Architecture.The theme of this academic year is “Architecture and the Ethics of Care” and the lectures will be curated by KVI Senior Researcher Dr. Ingrid Ruudi. On April 9 at 6 pmKatarina Bonnevierwill give a lecture “Living ...
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“Manifesto of Lightness” at SaloneSatellite 2026

Photo: Toomas Tikenberg Seating Furniture Studio 2016-2026Faculty of ArchitectureEstonian Academy of Arts Each year students of architecture and interior architecture learn to do less with more. They build a chair with limited wood material, one that carries their bodies and intentions. Lightness emerges through restraint, clarity, and responsibility. This exhibition brings together ten years ...
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KVI + ARH Open Lecture: Katarina Bonnevier “Living Organisms”

The 2025/2026 academic year open lecture series will be held in collaboration with the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture and the Faculty of Architecture. The theme of this academic year is “Architecture and the Ethics of Care” and the lectures will be curated by KVI Senior Researcher Dr. Ingrid Ruudi. On April 9 at 6 pm Katarina Bonnevier will give a lecture “Living Organisms – ...
FHD_Jos Boys2

KVI + ARH Open Lecture: Jos Boys “Doing Disability Differently in Architecture”

The 2025/2026 academic year open lecture series will be held in collaboration with the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture and the Faculty of Architecture. The theme of this academic year is “Architecture and the Ethics of Care” and the lectures will be curated by KVI Senior Researcher Dr. Ingrid Ruudi. On March 26 at 6 pm Jos Boys will give a lecture “Doing Disability Differently in ...
FHD_Jos Boys2

KVI + ARH Open Lecture: Jos Boys “Doing Disability Differently in Architecture”

The 2025/2026 academic year open lecture series will be held in collaboration with the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture and the Faculty of Architecture. The theme of this academic year is “Architecture and the Ethics of Care” and the lectures will be curated by KVI Senior Researcher Dr. Ingrid Ruudi. On March 26 at 6 pm Jos Boys will give a lecture “Doing Disability Differently in ...
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EKA Arh Conference 2026: Open Call for Abstracts extended until 15th April

The Estonian Academy of Arts Faculty of Architecture invites abstract submissions for the upcoming EKA Arh Conference 2026: To Be Continued…, a biennial international peer-reviewed conference held as a satellite event of the Tallinn Architecture Biennale. Knowledge about climate change and the possible adaptations, mitigation strategies, and transformations of the built environment is more ...
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Open Architecture Lecture: Eero Paloheimo

On March 12 at 6 pm, Finnish engineer, scientist and environmental researcher Eero Paloheimo will give a special lecture “Ecological city planning” in the EKA auditorium. Eero Kalervo Paloheimo has defended his doctoral theses at the University of Munich and the University of Helsinki. He worked at the company Eero Paloheimo & Matti Ollila from 1965 to 1994, and then was a professor ...
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Holt Scholarship 2026 awarded to Joosep Pärn

This year’s Jaan Holt Scholarship was awarded to Joosep Pärn, a final-year student of Architecture and Urban Design, for the strong thematic development of his thesis. Architecture students are encouraged already 7th 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 ...

Student Work

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