Architour. Campus of Estonian University of Life Sciences

Architours are are architecture tours organised by the Estonian Museum of Architecture. The tours are part of the main program of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024.

As part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, the final Architour on November 23rd will take you to explore one of Estonia’s most complete university campuses – the Estonian University of Life Sciences (Eesti Maaülikool). The architectural landscape of today’s university (formerly the Estonian Agricultural Academy) has been largely shaped by the works of architect Valve Pormeister (1922–2002).

Planning for the new campus of the University of Life Sciences, situated near the manor of Tähtvere on the outskirts of Tartu, began in the 1960s. The campus starts with the manor’s main building, designed in Heimat style in 1910, which now houses the university’s language center. Behind the manor lies Valve Pormeister’s work – the university’s main building, completed in the early 1980s, followed shortly by the forestry and land reclamation building, an iconic example of Pormeister’s architecture.

In addition to Pormeister’s designs, the tour will introduce participants to newer architectural contributions, including the sports building by Salto Architects, completed in 2009, and an extension by KAMP Architects, which was finished in 2013, continuing Pormeister’s legacy.

The tour lasts approximately 2.5 hours.

The guides of the tour are Grete Tiigiste, curator at the Estonian Museum of Architecture, and heritage conservationist Siiri-Liis Huttunen.