The Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) has announced professor and architect Sille Pihlak as the new dean of the institute’s Faculty of Architecture. The youngest dean in the EKA’s history, Pihlak will use her position to “highlight the importance of spatial visionaries in contemporary society.”

“Architecture is more than just individualistic house drawings or data-driven urban space design; it also includes a complex social fabric, all of which are intertwined in physical space,” Pihlak said upon her appointment. “So, just as in the rest of the world, the time for change has arrived in architecture, with the academy taking the first bold steps.”

Having studied at the EKA, SCI-Arc, and the Vienna University of Applied Sciences, Pihlak has built a career that seeks alternatives to conventional building aesthetics and solutions, grounding her work in climate and social issues. For the EKA, Pihlak’s appointment as dean represents an important step in altering the gender balance in Estonia’s architectural academia, a predominantly male environment.

“If architecture is a reflection of societal values rather than short-term fashion trends, then many new aspects have been added to our desk - from material science to manufacturing technologies, from artistic possibilities to economic constraints, from the footprint of the building to the field of meaning of the facilities - that must be woven into a complete living environment in this very fragmented world,” Pihlak added. “Where else can you experiment if not in the academy and in Estonia?”

Pihlak’s appointment is one of many recently covered in our editorial. Last month, we reported on Heather Flood’s appointment as dean of Woodbury’s School of Architecture, while in November, Cornell AAP reappointed J. Meejin Yoon for a second term as dean.

Meanwhile, UT Austin’s School of Architecture Dean Michelle Addington announced her departure from the position in September, followed in December by Christine Theodoropoulos, who announced her retirement as Cal Poly’s architecture and environmental design dean.