The Finnish firm ALA Architects, which designed Oodi, came up with the initial designs of our new education and business campus on Lauteri Street, which is due for completion in 2026. The campus was given the name Eedu because its nods to start-ups (idu), success (edu) and education underscore its very Estonianness.
ALA Architects were chosen in a competition to find the best solution to the concept born at EBS to build not just a new school building, but a campus in the very heart of Tallinn where studying, working, living and leisure come together. The Oodi Library inspired the ebsters not only as a home to books which boasts hugely exciting architecture, but also as a place for socialising, spending time and hosting events.
So why was the decision taken to organise an architectural competition? Mart Habakuk, EBS Chancellor and one of the driving forces behind Eedu, feels that such a competition is a good solution for buildings of any sort of significance. “Architecture is first and foremost an art form,” he says. “It’s the ability to see the bigger picture whilst paying attention to every detail. We don’t consider ourselves experts in that area, and that’s why we arranged the competition. Getting to know the work and approaches of the participants was enormously valuable to us, which is why I see the competition as an investment rather than an outgoing.”
There was a great deal of interest in getting involved in the creation of this innovative new education and business hub in Tallinn: 37 firms and consortiums sought to take part in the competition, of which seven were chosen by the jury. In addition to Mart, the jury included architects Indrek Allmann, Ülar Mark and Ignar Fjuk, Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts Mart Kalm and CEO of real estate fund management company EfTEN Capital Viljar Arakas.
The concept that EBS had for a campus combining living, learning, working and relaxing was in place by the time it launched the competition, but how it will look within the physical space it inhabits was reimagined and redesigned again and again with the winning architects from ALA.
At the time of writing this article at the end of 2023, two and a half years had passed since the winner of the competition was announced. Construction of the below-ground part of the campus is now in its fifth month, but every week brings with it new ideas about what could be made even better. Now there’s just 31 months until it’s due to open…
Fast-forwarding to that time, what will we find? The existing 6000 m2 building on Lauteri Street will have been joined by a 37,000 m2 extension. This new building will add team rooms, quiet study spaces, video lecture theatres, places to eat, bike parking, accommodation and sports facilities, a day care centre and also event spaces, the largest of which will be able to host up to 500 participants. The campus forms part of EBS’s vision for 2028, which will further blur the lines between living, learning and working and contribute to global nomadism and closer cooperation between researchers and businesses. The current building will also play an important part in the future campus: most of its lecture rooms will continue to be found here.
Catching the eye of everyone around will be the hub’s 30-storey high-rise, with school offices on the lower levels, as well as work and leisure areas for business accelerator clients. Around a hundred apartments will occupy the upper floors of the tower, the sales revenue from which will cover most of the investment needed to build the campus in the first place. “Eedu’s team also includes people who are researching community creation and management with a PhD scholarship, a campus customer management and events team, and much more, all of which we’ve already started setting up so as to make Eedu a hub that people have every reason to come to,” says Mart Habakuk, summing up the idea behind this new urban space and its community.