Introduction
The Architecture Awards is the joint award ceremony of the Estonian Association of Architects, Estonian Association of Interior Architects, Estonian Landscape Architects’ Union and Estonian Cultural Endowment held annually in December.
The event was established in 2015 to acknowledge outstanding achievements in our architecture and raise public awareness of the contemporary works of Estonian architects, interior architects and landscape architects in Estonia and abroad. Since 2019, also the article prize by the architectural review Maja and cultural weekly Sirp has been awarded.
Further information on the statutes of the awards is available below.
At the annual award ceremony, the following prizes are announced:
- The annual awards of the Architecture Endowment of the Estonian Cultural Endowment,
- The annual award of the Estonian Association of Architects, also “Eramu”/”Väike” and student awards,
- The annual awards of the Estonian Association of Interior Architects and Vello Asi student award,
- The annual awards of the Estonian Landscape Architects’ Union and student award,
- The award by Maja and Sirp for a publication on spatial design.
The winners and nominees are featured in the collections “Estonian Architecture Awards” and “Ruumipilt”.
The nominees for the awards in 2021 are soon to be featured here and the winners will be announced at at the Award Ceremony on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 in Tallinn.
The winners and nominees for the awards in 2018 – 2020 are featured on the website.
The winners and nominees of the awards in 2016 – 2018 can be seen also in the virtual exhibition (designed by Velvet).
The Estonian Cultural Endowment has presented annual awards for the most outstanding people in architecture, audio-visual art, music, literature, physical fitness and sports, visual and applied arts and folk culture since 1995. Each Endowment will award the best contributions in their field with the Supervisory Board of the Cultural Endowment awarding the main prizes. The monetary reward is accompanied by the Estonian Cultural Endowment symbolic brass sphere “Jonnakas” designed by Risto Tali and Rait Siska.
The annual awards of the field of architecture are announced at the joint annual architectural award ceremony in early December. The main awards together with the Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented at the Cultural Endowment award ceremony held at the beginning of the year following the competitions.
The nominees and winners of the architecture awards of the Estonian Cultural Endowment are featured in the yearbook “Estonian Architecture Awards” and on the overview page.
The Estonian Association of Architects (EAL) established its award for the best architect of the year in 2015 with the aim of acknowledging an outstanding work of architecture and its author. All members of the association can submit their entries that are evaluated by an independent architecture expert outside Estonia.
The awards “Eramu” (Private House) and “Väike” (Small) are given out in alternating years selected by a jury of specialists. The wider aim of the award for a private house is to highlight the role of high-quality architecture in designing a comfortable living environment as well as more prominent spatial experiments. The award for an outstanding small object is to acknowledge works of architecture that create valuable environments but may be overlooked in traditional competitions due to their smaller dimensions. These works are valuable for their human scale – the small size does not mean smaller value.
The winners of the award by the Estonian Association of Architects are announced at the joint annual architectural award ceremony in early December.
The nominees and winners of the awards are featured in the yearbook “Estonian Architecture Awards” and on the overview page.
THE STATUTE of the ARCHITECT OF THE YEAR AWARD
THE STATUTE of the PRIVATE HOUSE AWARD
THE STATUTE of the SMALL AWARD
The annual awards of the Estonian Association of Interior Architects were established in 1977 and it is reportedly the design award with the longest tradition in Europe. The competition for the award is announced publicly with the jury appointed by the board of the association making the final selection. The annual award statute allows to award up to three prizes, and in addition, Vello Asi student award is given out in cooperation between the association and the Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts.
The annual awards of the Estonian Association of Interior Architects are announced at the joint annual architectural award ceremony in early December. The winners will receive a certificate of merit, a gift (author Bruno Tomberg) and monetary reward supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
The winners and nominees of the awards of the Estonian Association of Interior Architects are featured in the yearbook “Ruumipilt” and on the overview page.
With its annual awards, the Estonian Landscape Architects’ Union (EMAL) acknowledges the most outstanding achievements of the year in landscape architecture and also promotes the high-quality outdoor spaces and their creators in Estonia. EMAL established its award for the outstanding projects, events and activities in the field of landscape architecture already in 2005. The call for the annual award is traditionally announced in the World Landscape Architecture Month – in April. The nominees and winners are selected by a jury of experts.
The winners of the Estonian Landscape Architects’ Union are announced at the joint annual architectural award ceremony in early December. The laureates will receive a certificate of merit as well as a monetary reward supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
The winners and nominees of EMAL awards are featured in the yearbook “Estonian Architecture Awards” and on the overview page.
Since 2019, the architectural review MAJA and cultural weekly Sirp have awarded their prize to acknowledge the most outstanding articles on spatial design either in the form of criticism, essay or research expanding the boundaries of the field. The award aims to highlight writing on spaces as an important impetus to the advancement of this field.
The nominees for the award are disclosed in October while the winners are announced at the joint annual architectural award ceremony in early December.
The winners will receive a certificate of merit as well as a monetary reward.
The article award of Maja is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
The winners of the article award will also be featured in the yearbook “Estonian Architecture Awards” and on the overview page.
The award “Jonnakas” for the winners of Estonian Cultural Endowment award, authors Risto Tali and Rait Siska.
The sphere is spun in brass with a lead weight and protective coating. The Cultural Endowment logo is etched on its surface with the engraved name of the cultural field or endowment as well as the name of the laureate and the year. The winners of the Annual Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award are given a sphere of 200mm in diameter with a gold coating while the winners of the Annual Awards of the Endowments receive a sphere 150mm in diameter with a copper coating.
Photo
Tiit Mõtus
