As all European, and, especially, Eastern European countries, Estonia is full of Le-Corbusier-insiper concrete buildings. Most people hate those... and problably these have the most inhabitant, by percentage. I, personally, rather like the buildings for the straightforward look, logical room planning, economical and environmentally practical central heating. If placed correctly (the distance between two buildings has correspont to be their double height) and surrounded with a touch of nature (grass, tress, bushes, flower beds, playgrounds), they're ok.
But what I hate, is that in 1990ies people took extreme liberties in fucking up the face of these houses, closing the terraces, balconies and loggias any way came to their mind. Oh, well, there's some vernacular coolness about it, too, but in general - it's ugly. What impressed me on this 9-storey house in Tartu Annelinn (Ann's town), is the last floor grated terraces. I guess there was some reason in those metal bars at some point, but the current level of criminality is so low that I hardly imagine somebody breaking in from there and carrying all the stolen stuff (TV set?) away over the roof... On the other hand, in the mid 1990ies, there was a wave of stealing bikes from 2-3 storey balconies. So maybe I'm just snobbish and the bars have to be there.
By Vahur Afanasjev, Tartu, 2010
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