Villem Tomiste

Villem Tomiste (born 8 August 1975 in Tallinn) is an Estonian architect.

He graduated from high school in 1993 Tallinna Liivalaia Gümnaasium. Tomiste was enrolled as a student of the Tallinn University of Technology the same year. The architectural degree was acquired in Estonian Academy of Arts from 1994 to 2000.

He worked as an editor for the daily newspaper Post from 1993 to 1997. Tomiste also was part of the pop/rap-group Must Q for two years since 1995. From 2000 till 2002 he practiced as a freelance architect. Since 2002 he is a partner in architectural office KOSMOS. In 2012 office name was changed into Stuudio Tallinn.

He is best known for his wide range of completed works and polemical/published interventions concerning the subject of urbanity and city-life. The completed works include: the Central Square for the Town of Rakvere; apartment buildings in Laagri; a mixed-use city-block in Rotermanni Quarter in the City of Tallinn and the apartment building with retail space in the Old Town part in the City of Tallinn. The best known speculative propositions are the vision for the Viru Square in Tallinn, as a pedestrian area free of car-traffic (2004) and alternative visions for the spire of the church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn, which was destroyed in fire (2002). The built and envisioned spaces and structures created with Ott Kadarik and Mihkel Tüür (architectural office KOSMOS) are distinctive for playful use of materials, their dramatic spatial language and hypermodern layout of volumes. Next to the built edifices and philanthropic urban proposals he has successfully participated in multiple local and international competitions. He was awarded with Urban Studies Prize by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia in 2003 and as part of the architectural practice KOSMOS he won the Estonian Republic’s national Cultural Advancement Award for the city-block in Rotermanni Quarter in 2008.

Villem Tomiste is a member of the Union of Estonian Architects since 2001 and Member of Chair of the Union of Estonian Architects since 2002. Since 2010 Villem Tomiste is Vice-Chairman of The Union of Estonian Architects. He was also part of the Architectural Council for the Tallinn City Centre from 2005 to 2006. In 2011 he organized first Tallinn Architecture Biennale with Estonian Architecture Center.