Photo by Stina Kase

Kadri Kerge is an Estonian-born architect who has been living and working in New York since 2011.

She currently works at NBBj NY  and she is running her private architecture studio Ministry of Architecture (kadrimaris.com) with her sister Maris Kerge.

Her special interest are high-rise buildings and living spaces.

Jaanika Peerna: What are you up to these days? What changes has the past year  brought to your life and practice?

Kadri Kerge: The past year has been a most important year for me. Without leaving my small studio apartment in New York City, I have been able to work on many projects and developments across the world: architectural projects in Wuhan, Shanghai, Hangzhou in China and many projects in Tallinn, Estonia.

My boss and our clients were in different parts of the world, while the contractors and team members were in New York.

With this unusual system we were able to produce significant amount of work.

I learned that all I need is the internet, and the ability to control my focus, and I can be very successful and efficient with my work.

I replaced my everyday commute from home to office to gym with running and exercising outside in Central Park, in any weather, to balance out the home-office-enforced lifestyle.

I became a serious runner, and discovered a new 'flow state' in running where my body and mind don´t get really tired.

Most importantly, I became an instructor in the Art of Conscious Change (AoCC) course created by my teacher Ingvar Villido Ishwaranada.

After completing a 400-hour intensive training program, and years of experienced practice, I have learned how to change my life.

I learned to release all negative emotions and bring consciousness and awareness into the world and it has made my life much more joyful. As an instructor, now I can change your life too.

JP: Which projects are closest to your heart as an architect?

KK: I am eager to create aesthetically pleasing designs and to bring an intrigue to the space so that people will not be bored, but instead inspired.

I am always interested  in designing high-rise buildings – to think in urban scale about how to compliment the skyline, the experience from street level, how to bring people to the building, and finally inside – to create contemporary living and working spaces.

JP: This year we celebrate 120 years since the day American architect Louis Kahn was born on the Estonian island of Saaremaa.

What do you think is the reason Kahn´s work resonates on so many levels, even today?

Is there an aspect to your architectural practice that is in dialogue with Kahn´s thinking?

KK: Kahn is a bit of a cult figure in the US, and has influenced generations of architects.

He has many followers and he has been an inspiration to so many architects because he was not only a good designer, but through his complicated life and his search to find True Self he also tried to discover it though space and geometry. and he found it, and created architecture which is eternal, timeless, peaceful.

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