The focus of the MA thesis is to further develop the historical vernacular techniques and thereby question the current building practices and comfort standards. The starting point stems from the approaches to climate change that have transformed buildings into mere shells around the utility systems. This, in turn, has led to a situation where various relevant aspects of the problem such as the impact of utility systems on the climate as well as overconsumption are overlooked. These modernist practices have pushed the topics of indoor climate to the engineer’s desk while the architect can only formalise the shape of the building. The aim of the study of vernacularity is not to romanticise it but interpret the wisdom developed over the centuries. Advanced vernacularity does not require the abandonment of technologies, but rather the creation of a new hierarchy that prioritizes passive techniques, thus restoring the historical role of the architect as creator of indoor climate.
2025
The Student Award of the Estonian Association of Architects 2025
Marta Elisabeth Tikman


