Historical and contemporary apartments in Tartu

Originally built in 1878 as apartments this building has been used as Art Museum of Tartu for almost 70 years. Now it’s turning back to its roots and become an apartment residence again.

Lacking sustained investment and maintenance, within years it became not suitable for operating. The building was listed as a historically valuable architecture piece so it’s been preserved shape and the façade. The old part of this residential apartments is a centre of architectural ensemble framed by buildings in Northern Europe’s contemporary architecture style. All three-storey buildings are wrapped around small patio that reminds the Dutch urban garden “tuin”.

The property creating a new standard for urban life of Tartu. Real estate developer gave us Cart Blanche for the visual property presentation. So we wanted to highlight the respect for a historical part the architect gave. Furthermore, architectural CGI aimed to show the modern vibe that this property certainly gets. Small but smart, eclectic with minimalist and classical elements this was fun to work on and create CGI for the property marketing campaign.

The artwork “Bound By Time” got into the finalists’ list of One Rendering Contest by Architizer and has been recognized as one of the best examples of architectural storytelling among this year’s entries by the jury. The image is made based on an actual real estate development project in Tartu. The main building of this architectural ensemble was built as apartments in 1878. Since the 1940s, it was used as the Art Museum of Tartu for almost 70 years; now it’s turning back to its roots and becoming an apartment residence again.

The artwork highlights the respect for the historical part that the architect has given by adding some retrospective fantasy life to the image, to show the invisible bond between past and present and the modern vibe.