Culture, Estonia, Forum

The open two-stage competition invited emerging architectural talents to design an experimental wooden structure in the heart of Tallinn, considering new technologies in relation to Estonia’s rich history of timber construction. The jury, comprised of Areti Markopoulou (IAAC, Spain), Philippe Block (ETH Zurich; NCCR, Switzerland), and Mihkel Tüür (KTA, Estonia) with the support of the jury advisers Gilles Retsin (Bartlett B-Pro AD; Gilles Retsin Architecture, UK), Sille Pihlak (PART; Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia), Dr. Yael Reisner (Yael Reisner Studio; TAB 2019 Head Curator, UK) selected Steampunk by SoomeenHahm Design, Igor Pantic and Fologram, from among 137 submissions from around the world.

“The winning project challenges the idea of the primitive hut –showing how, by using algorithmic logic, simple raw materials can be turned into a highly complex and inhabitable structure”, asserts Gilles Retsin, TAB 2019’s Installation Programme Curator.
 
As material expertise and traditional craftsmanship gradually succumb to the promises of bespoke design customization via CNC machines and 3D printers, the team has focused on a hybrid approach that reinterprets the primitive tools of architecture from a contemporary perspective.

The result is a proposal for a pavilion made of steam-bent timber elements, using analogue tools augmented with the precision of mixed reality environments. It explores an adaptive design and fabrication system that is resilient to wide variations in material behavior and fabrication accuracy, occupying a fuzzy in-between that is neither purely analogue nor purely automated. Steampunk explores a path to rethink applications and traditions of craft in pursuit of their evolution.   

The installation will be built in August 2019 in the lively pedestrian green area facing the Museum of Estonian Architecture and will open to the public during TAB 2019 Opening Week on September 11^th, 2019. 

The structure will remain in place until the next edition of the event in 2021.

The second prize winners are Déborah López, Hadin Charbel and Patrick Donbeck (Thailand) with their project Expired Beauty and third prize winner is Plethora Project – José Sanchez (USA) with the project Combonest.