26/05/2026

TALLINN ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE TAB 2026: “How Much?”

TAB 2026 announces winners of Installation Programme and Vision Competition. Resonance and A Place Reclaimed lead bold ideas on value in architecture.

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TAB 2026 announces the winners of the Installation Programme and Vision Competition

The 8th Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2026, TAB 2026 (tab.ee) proudly announces the winning proposals of the Installation Programme Competition and of the Vision Competition. Both competitions are part of the curatorial framework of TAB 2026, “How Much?”, which investigates the role of money in shaping architecture and the built environment.

INSTALLATION PROGRAMME COMPETITION

The Installation Programme Competition “Budget Bougie” invited architects to rethink notions of luxury through the lens of limited resources. They were asked to propose a temporary outdoor pavilion. This pavilion would be located in front of the Estonian Museum of Architecture in Tallinn’s Rotermann district.

The jury was composed of Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton, an architect and author of the previous TAB installation. Karen Jagodin, the head of the Estonian Museum of Architecture, also participated. Kertu Johanna Jõeste, an architect and member of the Curatorial Team TAB 2026, contributed as well. Sille Pihlak, an architect and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Estonian Academy of Arts, was part of the jury. Finally, Elina Liiva, an architect and PhD student at the Estonian Academy of Arts, joined them. They reviewed over 100 submissions from more than 30 countries worldwide.

Ordinary materials and structural ingenuity

The winning proposal, Resonance by AruMa-Architects architectural practice founded in 2021 by Cheng Hao Chung and Zhang Jie, with team members Cui Jiakai and Matteo Minnicelli, and based between Shanghai and Tokyo, was selected for its reinterpretation of luxury as an intensified spatial and atmospheric experience created through ordinary materials and structural ingenuity.

The installation is conceived as a quiet courtyard. It is detached from the intense and noisy atmosphere of Tallinn’s traffic island setting. The design combines rebar, ropes, limestone, and plywood. These materials create a space of intimacy, resonance, and temporary retreat. Through a carefully balanced tensile structure anchored by a central stone core, the project transforms strict economic and material constraints into an immersive architectural environment shaped by light, wind, sound, and gravity.

“Resonance has a simple yet interesting approach to the topic of the competition, its spatial execution is comprehensive. The pavilion uses standard construction materials in unexpected ways, elevating them into something new and unique. A spatially intriguing visual is accomplished with radically simple techniques and materials, aligning the pavilion very well with the topics of TAB 2026.”
Kertu Johanna Jõeste, TAB 2026 curatorial team.

The winning installation will be realised in August 2026 and inaugurated during the Opening Week of TAB 2026 in the public space in front of the Estonian Museum of Architecture. Second prize was awarded to A Song of the Last Wooden House by Laula Laudis (Nikita Klimenko (Mikita Klimenka) and Sofia Markson).

Third prize went to Karu Karu by Eero Kustaa Haapanen. Two honourable mentions were also selected: Rebirth of Bougie by Valerii Krinberg, Kaari Maria Tirmaste, Martin Sepp, and Joosep Pärn, and Prospettica by Pavlo Kryvozub.Their projects will be featured within TAB 2026 curatorial framework and catalogue.

VISION COMPETITION

Alongside the Installation Programme Competition, TAB 2026 announces the winner of the Vision Competition “From Void to Value”. This competition invited proposals for reimagining Tallinn’s UNESCO-listed Old Town. The focus was on Harju Street. The competition addressed the reactivation of urban voids within a historic context, balancing heritage preservation with contemporary urban needs.

urban transformation

The 31 proposals were evaluated by an international jury comprising Triin Talk (heritage and conservation specialist, PhD candidate at the Estonian Academy of Arts), Keiti Lige (Visions Architect at the City of Tallinn), Klaske Havik (Professor at Delft University of Technology), Siiri Vallner (architect and partner at Kavakava), and Siim Tanel Tõnisson (architect and TAB 2026 curator, co-founder of Stuudio TÄNA).

The first prize was awarded to A Place Reclaimed by Patrick Liik, Mikael Ristmets, Kaari Maria Tirmaste, Martin Sepp, and Valerii Krinberg, a team of young architects and urban designers based in Estonia and the Netherlands.

The project reimagines Harju Street as a staged urban transformation, introducing an incremental “city within the city” that develops through existing structures, passages, and courtyards. It reconnects the Lower Town and Toompea and treats heritage as an active spatial layer rather than a static condition.

A city within the city

The jury highlighted the clarity of the proposal, noting its strong spatial strategy:

“A highly ambitious and well-presented strategy that introduces a “city within the city” behind a street-side wall: an incremental urban village with civic and community functions. The idea of reconnecting the Danish King’s Garden and introducing a new bridge and vertical links is widely appreciated. The kiosk-like small units and the screen element raise questions about suitability and possible cliché. Despite these reservations, the project is regarded as one of the strongest and most discussion-worthy visions.”

Second prize was awarded to Reap What You Sow by Fred-Eric Pavel and Karmo Vihepuu. Third prize went to Urban Home by Michal Romaniuk.

Five honourable mentions were also selected: Stitching the Seams by Lisa Kaufmann; The Living Void by Salvatore Settecasi; Grafting Domesticity by Endéma in addition to Aron De Cesero, Marta Magnaguagno, Pierluigi Recca, Leonardo Tagliente, Mattia Zanardo, Emma Dal Dosso, and Giulia Morellato; PARK4ALL by Arnd Dewald; and AT LEAST 101€ by Meiling Chen, Zhiyuan Jiang, and Yu Chen.