Nominee for the Annual Architect Award of the Estonian Association of Architects 2023
Nominee for the Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia in Architecture 2023
Location
Jaan Koorti 24, Tallinn
Architecture
Maarja Kask, Ralf Lõoke, Margus Tamm (Salto AB)
Structural design
Estpanel
Commissioned by
Tallinna Kunstihoone
Total area
480m2
Design
2021–2022
Completed
2022
Photos
Tõnu Tunnel

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TAGASI

The Art Hall Lasnamäe Pavilion is an exceptionally successful building for us. Visiting modern art exhibitions is unfortunately considered an elitist activity and galleries as places where you need to walk on a tightrope. When operating in Lasnamäe, we needed a building that would allow us to organise not only exhibitions but also cosy community activities where people could sit on the floor and freely discuss art with the guides. The first year has shown that the pavilion designed by Salto provides excellent flexible opportunities for displaying various exhibitions, organising concerts and joint cooking events in the courtyard and diverse public programmes between exhibitions. The visitors have received the striking building with open arms, exhibitions in Lasnamäe draw more visitors than in the city centre, and we have attracted a whole new audience who so far have not been exposed to modern art. We are sincerely happy about our pavilion and we hope that it will continue operating also once the renovation of the historical Art Hall building is completed.
Paul Aguraiuja, head of Tallinn Art Hall

SA Kunstihoone, Lasnamäe city district government and the cultural centre Lindakivi signed a cooperation agreement to support the temporary move of the Art Hall to Lasnamäe during the renovation of their main building and thus also to promote cultural activities and integration in the given district. It is a temporary satellite to ensure the continuity of the Art Hall as an important exhibition venue while placed in an untraditional location. That was why one of the aims was to make the pavilion noticeable and memorable.

The starting point for the architectural solution included, in addition to the function, also the urban situation and the features of the surroundings. The pavilion is square on the outer perimeter forming a private courtyard at its centre. The roof of the entire building is slanted to the south providing the courtyard with sunlight and making the specific shape of the pavilion perceptible also from Lindakivi Bridge to arouse interest in passers-by to go and check what is happening inside.

The pavilion is made up of two symmetrical halves and manufactured as a factory building in identical modules. It may be repeatedly assembled and disassembled, allowing the hall to have also another life cycle. The roof is covered with sedum to make it attractive also when viewed from the neighbouring tall buildings.

The slanting roof and the position of the building around the courtyard create a distinctive interior space – the exhibition hall of the same width but varying in height (ca 2-7m) allows for galleries of very different proportions for expositions of diverse scale and purpose. In essence, it is a circular space that could be shaped and sectioned according to the needs of the particular exhibition.