Mart Kalm was born in Tallinn into a family of editors. He graduated from Tallinn II Secondary School (currently Tallinn Secondary School of Science). From 1979-1984, he studied history and art history at Tartu University. In 1991, he received a PhD from the Central Scientific Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture in Moscow for his thesis on the architect Alar Kotli. In 1998, he defended his second PhD (= Habilitation) at the Estonian Academy of Arts on Estonian architecture culture during the interwar period. As an architectural historian, Kalm has mainly studied the work of Estonian architects in the 20th century (before and after World War 11). His most important work is the voluminous "Estonian 20th Century Architecture" (2001; Grand Prix of the Estonian Cultural Endowment in 2002). He has written a monograph on architect Alar Kotli (1994; Kristjan Raud Prize) and a book about Olev Siinmaa (2011), which was accompanied by an exhibition. He was awarded the national prize in history for the compilation "History of Estonian Art", Volume V (1900-1940), published in 2010. He has written an architectural guide, "Functionalism in Estonia: A Guidebook" (1998), and participated in the compilation of several other reference books. In recent years, Kalm has been focusing his research on the architecture of collective farms in Soviet Estonia

Mart Kalm has been active as an architecture critic and is interested in landscape and interior architecture. In his youth, he also published art and design criticism. He has often expressed his opinion on heritage issues and composed the heritage requirements for the conservation of the Riigikogu (Parliament) building, the Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia and villas at Ruutli la and Launa 2b in Parnu. In 2004, he produced a series of TV broadcasts, "Muinas-TV" (Heritage TV).

Kalm has been a long-time member of the Expert Council for Architectural Monuments of the National Heritage Board, as well as the Head of the National Heritage Council from 2006-2010. From 2010-2013, he was the Co-Chair of the Estonian delegation to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Since 1992, Mart Kalm has been working at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2000, he became a professor at the Academy, and from 1994-2007 he built up the Institute of Art History. From 2007-2012 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Culture. In January 2015, he was elected the Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

In 2010, Mart Kalm became the first art historian to be elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Since 2014, he has held the position of Vice-President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.