Avarrus Architects takes part in the Tallinn Architecture Biennale
Evert Palmets / Tallinn Architecture Biennale
The programme for TAB, the Tallinn Architecture Biennale, presents a multitude of interesting talks, seminars, installations, and exhibitions.
The Estonian Centre for Architecture is organising the Tallinn Architecture Biennale for the eighth time, this year with the question How Much? as the theme.
The theme explores the relationship between constraints, costs and architecture. The question challenges the assumption that low cost automatically means affordability and efficiency. The curatorial team highlights the long-abandoned 20th-century landmark Linnahall, around which there is a debate about the price of demolition and reconstruction. The question “How Much?” extends beyond numbers to encompass spatial, political and cultural value.
The biennale programme runs from 9 September to the end of November, with events taking place across central Tallinn, including the Estonian Museum of Architecture and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
The programme is built around five main events: the Curatorial Exhibition, Symposium, Vision Competition Exhibition, Installation Programme and International Architecture Schools’ Exhibition. In addition, the biennale features an extensive satellite programme ranging from workshops to concerts.
The programme brings together international participants from different countries including Finland, Switzerland and France. Avarrus Architects is a Helsinki-based architecture practice founded in 2008, known particularly for its renovation projects and sustainable approach to design. The practice’s work includes Punavuoren Tallit, which was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2023.
The installation Simply Massive by Avarrus Architects examines brick through the perspective of its inherent qualities. The work explores the functionality of the material with air, energy, mass and material cycles, and considers what these qualities mean in practice. In relation to the Biennale’s theme How Much?, the installation approaches the value and cost of brick through its lifespan, usability and material properties rather than short-term efficiency. The installation is based on the Helsingin Muurarimestari project, a 29-apartment brick building, which explores these questions in modern construction. Avarrus Architects will also participate in a panel discussion during the Opening Week.
The two-day symposium held during the Opening Week brings together discussions and keynote presentations. The theme of the first day is To Be Continued… From Scattered Facts to Shared Concerns. The day begins with a Finnish future thinker and CEO of Demos Helsinki, Aleksi Neuvonen. His talk focuses on societal transformation, post-growth futures and new models of collective action.
Among the symposium’s keynote speakers are British writer, critic and curator Phineas Harper, who examines assumptions surrounding budgetary scarcity, and Claire Zimmerman, Professor of Architecture at the University of Toronto, who explores the impact of the costs of construction and infrastructure on societal structures.
