Tallinn University Inaugurates New Building
The new Astra complex at Tallinn University will house a number of departments, including the Institute of Informatics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the Institute of Psychology and a new library.
Yesterday’s opening ceremony took place in a symbolic setting - a conference room below the atrium. “As the construction progressed, the university had a change of heart. After a year and a half of planning, the rectorate decided it wanted a large conference hall. We hid it under the atrium,” said architect Ignar Fjuk.
Fjuk told ETV that the building, which took six years to complete, was shaped in close cooperation between architects and the university. He added that designing a functioning solution was not easy because the adjoining buildings had to be taken into account.
The building cost 9.4 million euros to build, of which 83 percent came from the European Social Fund.
The new 10,500-square-meter complex has five floors, a three-story library, research laboratories, auditoriums, a student café, and the university is planning for a greenhouse on the roof.
