Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2024: Installation Programme Competition

The Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2024, TAB 2024 (tab.ee), which will take place from 9 October to 1 December, 2024 (Opening Week: October 9th – 16th, 2024), has presented its Installation Programme Competition: "For-This-Situation".

With a submission deadline on May 15th, 2024, the Installation Competition (download the competition brief at this link) challenges participants to develop creative designs for a temporary outdoor installation at Tallinn’s busiest local transportation hub – the Balti Jaam. The Pavilion is located on the edge of the largely intact Tallinn Bastion Belt, which encircles Tallinn’s UNESCO-protected medieval Old Town.

The winning proposal of the Installation Programme Competition will serve as a waiting area for the passengers of the local bus lines. During TAB 2024 a 1:1 fragment of the winning proposal will be built. The project should draw inspiration by the concept of standing still, an act of killing time and needing shelter. The Pavilion will focus on the contrasts of everyday life: happiness, disappointment, security or boredom as we wait for a message, a job interview or a gathering.

The Installation Programme Competition aligns with TAB 2024’s main theme “Resources for a Future”, which was conceived by the curatorial team Daniel A. Walser, Anhelina L. Starkova and Jaan Kuusemets, and delves into different principles of using our resources, in architecture, building materials or urban planning. “The For-This-Situation Pavilion” encourages participants to explore new ways of using repurposed, reused resources and use bio-based materials to create a durable installation.

Laura Linsi and Roland Reemaa, curators of the TAB 2024 Installation Programme Competition, explain their manifesto as follows:

“We arguably live in unprecedented times and yet we carry on with our lives. Between romanticised pasts and utopian futures, this Open Call explores the agile qualities of architecture – collaborative authorships, regenerative design and non-linear construction processes. Derived directly from the Latin phrase ad hoc, we seek alternative practices on how an architectural project can be planned, built, maintained and dismantled in the form of a public pavilion for today’s needs and with today’s means.”

The TAB 2024 Installation Programme Competition invites architects to imagine a public infrastructure that reuses materials from a local timber manufacturer (Thermory), second-hand material handlers and potential collaborators from quarries, forestry, waste management departments to create a community space that prioritises people, sufficiency and joy.

As a member of the TAB 2024 curatorial team, Daniel A. Walser asserts:

“With the transformation of the competition from artistic sculptural objects, exhibited on a podium, to a functional built structure at the central train station, we bring architecture to the wider public. I wholeheartedly believe that architecture can be instrumental in solving today’s problems. Architecture isn’t only an artistic tool in itself; it helps to improve the world. This competition shows the potential of a vision to come to life for daily life. The theme of TAB 2024 “Resources for a Future” materialises and is built on a 1:1 scale through this competition.”

JURY

Anhelina L. Starkova, architect & curator of TAB 2024, will lead the Jury panel for the Installation Programme Competition, alongside Indrek Peil (EE) – architect, Kavakava architects, Austris Mailītis (LV), architect & educator, Anhelina L. Starkova (UA), architect & curator of TAB 2024 , Ann Kristiin Entson (EE) – architect & urban planner, Tallinn Strategic Management Office, Simo Ilomets (EE) – engineer, lecturer TalTech, and other professionals who will be revealed in the upcoming weeks.

The winning team will be announced at the end of July 2024.

TIMELINE

Competition announced 08.04.2024

Q&A available to info@tab.ee until 30.04.2024

Stage 1 deadline for submissions: 15.05.2024, 12:00 (GMT +2)

Stage 1 results announced end of May

Stage 2 deadline for submissions incl. physical model: 10.07.2024, 12:00 (GMT +2)

Final results announced end of July

Mock-up design and construction period August-September

TAB 2024 exhibition installation September

TAB 2024 officially open 09.10. – 01.12.2024

PRIZES

Each runner-up team will be awarded €500 upon successfully submitting two-stage deliverables, while the winning proposal will be awarded €3.000 prize designated as a creator’s fee.

The total budget allocated for installation is €12.000. Each qualifying entry must adhere to this predetermined budget, covering expenses such as materials, construction, dismantling, transportation, engineer consultations, and travel expenses for the winning creators.

All successful entries will be presented as a separate Installation Programme Exhibition at the Museum of Estonian Architecture in Tallinn.

For questions and further information about the competition brief, please contact info@tab.ee by 30 April 2024.