Floating architecture Nordic-Baltic
Architectural Triennial Between Heaven And Earth12-14 September 2002

Estonian Institute
Inga Raukas
Plasma The present triennial, one of the few architectural events in Tallinn with a colourful history, took place for the fifth time. As is traditional, the participants included stars whom it would be a great pity to miss. The event's geography no longer embraces only the Nordic and Baltic countries, but is much more diverse. The forces that move architectural life - buildings being erected, academic activity and seminars-conferences-exhibitions - have reached beyond state borders. Competition even on the so-called conference market, however, has also become tenser and requires increasingly improved organising standards and advertising.


Wachington Metro Their position between architecture's 'heaven and earth', practice and theory, virtual and physical space, was on this occasion described by architects of very different generations and principles. The triennial papers and the exhibition in the Art Hall displayed highly opposed views of architecture, which is why a few messages were left up in the air. Pragmatic architects of the older generation were in a way opposed by the participating 'young' (Office of Information Based Architecture, Urban Future Organisation, Plasma Studio, Graft, COO Architects and Head Arhitektid/Good Architects) as well as by the 'academics' - Peter Cook, Lars Raattamaa and Juri Avvakumov.


Juri Avvakumov. Flying Proletarian Decent Baltic and Nordic architecture of impeccable taste has no aspirations to compete on an intellectual level or loudly express any new interesting viewpoints. Kristian Gullichsen brought those who seek perpetual innovation and lightness in architecture back to earth, telling the story of Finnish architecture that trudges in the footsteps of Alvar Aalto. He regards architecture, not as a butterfly, but as an elephant. Svein Lund and Anders Wilhelmson demonstrated tasteful architecture, the art of space, carefully designed and thought through with Nordic clarity.
Eccentrics and stars provided some much needed spice to pep up the somnolent architecture of the Nordic countries. Peter Cook, as the bearer of the spirit of the one-time revolutionary Archigramm, told stories about 'popping' architecture. With great brio he tried to convince the audience that architecture does not have to be a serious art, but can be light, mobile and downright jolly. Besides, it is possible to become famous without actually building anything. Take, for example, Juri Avvakumov, who unfazedly talked about his absurd and simply interesting constructions of ideas and paper. His remarkable personality was explanation enough for why he is not producing real architecture in Russia but, instead, is travelling around European exhibition halls.


Pärnu Concert House Both Cook and Avvakumov have produced pop culture, stressing unconventional and temporal events in architecture. Archigramm's social and jolly-utopian mobility has influenced architecture rather more than the architecture of Russian paper architects, which can be regarded as art projects. The forceful youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s was somewhat more self-critical and ironic towards its own work than is today's flexible and blending urban culture. The question which arose at the young architects' panel discussion about new architecture no longer finds an answer via oppositions, but rather via new meanings, positions and ways of depiction in architecture. Each architectural firm creates its own new identity in between the numerous interpretations of architecture.


Pärnu Concert House Today's young architectural firms are multinational. The Office of Information Based Architecture, the Urban Future Organisation and Plasma Studio architects have a process-based and theoretical education obtained at London architectural schools. Academic studies, a systematic approach and not too many commissions allow them to approach architecture with great thoroughness. Plasma Studio received the 2002 Building Design/Corus Young Architect of the Year Award and the GA Award 2002. UFO has, for example, won the prestigious competitions for the Sarajevo Concert Hall and Castelmola Modern Art Museum. New network groups and highly diverse activities have brought about another kind of architecture and new architects who do not oppose the world but create their own worlds. The 'young architects' relationships with their tools, the media and web business world change architecture as well. In a world of complex and virtual relations, there is no absolute black and white, oppositions or manifestos, but rather everyone seeks out or establishes his own path between many opportunities.
What emerged at the triennial was a multiplicity of views and attitudes towards the work of an architect, although this diverse company of people never reached a more tangible discussion during the two and half days. The message of the Tallinn triennial was the possibility of infinite ways of existing in space and of creating it.


Occupation Museum Young and already successful architectural firms at the triennial illustrated quite varied points of view: the Los Angeles based GRAFT, which produces apartments for Hollywood stars, and the London UFO (Urban Future Organisation) garnered attention for their work by the sheer number of their projects and winning competitions. Young Estonian architects could also feel proud of the amount of their output; hence the expression 'teenage builders' emerged at the triennial regarding budding architects with a number of projects, already realised or under construction, adorning their CVs. The Good Architects firm (Head Arhitektid: Siiri Vallner, Indrek Peil, Tomomi Hayashi) has two buildings under way at the same time: the Lasnamäe sports building and the Occupation Museum. COO architects (Hanno Grossschmidt, Katrin Koov, Ott Kadarik, Kalle Komissarov, Kaire Nõmm, Mihkel Tüür, Siiri Vallner and Rene Valner) whose success is based on numerous winning competition projects, are in fact totally inundated with work, so much so that they are about to be split into several new groups. Work on the Pärnu Concert House, honoured at Europan 6 as the best-ever Estonian result, arranging workshops and landscape schools form only a part of their diverse activity.


| Estonian Art 2/02 (12) | Published by the Estonian Institute 2002 | ISSN 1406-5711 (Online) | ISSN 1406-3549 (Printed version) | einst@einst.ee | tel: (372) 631 43 55 | fax: (372) 631 43 56 |