TAB Symposium "Sounds Expensive"

TAB 2026 Symposium
10–11 September 2026

Day 1: TAB 2026 x EKA
Estonian Academy of Arts Arh Conference “To Be Continued…”

Day 2: TAB 2026 Symposium
“Sounds Expensive”

Estonian Academy of Arts
Põhja pst 7, Tallinn, Estonia

Symposium Day 2: “Sounds Expensive”

Not everything is always as it seems. A first impression may prove misleading; simple flat-pack furniture instructions can take hours to follow; quiet, introspective people may sing with unexpected force; and a cheaply constructed building can become rather expensive over time. The symposium for the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2026, titled “Sounds expensive”, turns to these deceptive impressions and snap judgements about value in architecture. By adopting this familiar expression, it extends TAB’s inquiry into how architects navigate economies, constraints and systems of value.

Structured as a practice-driven debate connected to TAB 2026’s curatorial exhibition, it brings together exhibition participants to present their work and situate their practices in dialogue with others through panel discussions. Each session opens with a keynote by architectural thinkers: Professor of Architecture Claire Zimmerman reflects how the economics of buildings reveal architecture’s entanglement with access, class and intention; architects and designers Thomas Flores and Mathias-Vincent Palazzi challenge dominant narratives of architectural frugality and propose an updated understanding through the lens of excess instead of scarcity; and critic Phineas Harper asks what architecture might become after economic growth and financial return are no longer its primary measure for success. Together with local and international practices, the symposium charts not simply whether architecture is expensive, but what architecture truly costs, who pays and what forms of value remain absent from calculations. After all, not everything is always as it seems.

This might sound expensive, but, as it goes with illusions, the tickets to attend are affordable – reserve your early bird tickets here.

Speakers

Thomas Flores & Mathias Vincent Palazzi – architects, researchers, designers (FR)

Thomas Flores and Mathias Palazzi are, respectively, architect-urbanist and designer. In 2024, they began a joint research project at the GERPHAU laboratory in Paris La Villette, with the aim of defining the scope of their work and finding an alternative approach to the prevailing discourse on ‘architectural sobriety’, which they feel is disconnected from both the essence and the practical realities of the discipline. This research led to the publication of a thesis and various lectures in academic settings in France and the Netherlands (ENSAPLV, EAVT & Rietveld academie ). It is continuing throughout 2026 at the Jan Van Eyck Academie in the Netherlands, through which they recently published the book “Dialectics of Austerity” and in professional practice through the architectural office INTERBAU, recently opened in Paris.

IG: @mathias.palazzi / @jeune.thomas / @interbau.co

(c) Mathias-Vincent Palazzi & Thomas Flores

Phineas Harper – writer, critic, curator (UK)

Phineas Harper is a writer, broadcaster, and sculptor. They are a regular contributor to the Guardian and the founder of the Architecture of Repair collective. They were previously the chief executive of the NGO Open City and the chief curator of the Oslo Architecture Triennale. They co-founded New Architecture Writers with the Historian Tom Wilkinson and live in Greenwich, London, with two cats: Kaspar and Alvar.

Claire Zimmerman – Professor of Architecture, University of Toronto (CA)

Claire Zimmerman is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Toronto, where she directs the PhD programme in Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Her current projects include work on industrial architecture, a collective research project on The Costs of Architecture, and a series of published writings and books, most recently Albert Kahn Inc. Architecture, Labor, and Industry, 1905–1961 (MIT Press, 2025) or Architecture against Democracy: Histories of the Nationalist International (University of Minnesota Press, 2024). Since 2026, she has been the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH) and has continuously engaged with evaluating and supervising dissertations.

Panel participants

Tõnis Savi – architect/researcher (EE)

Mantas Peteraitis of Mantas Peteraitis Architecture Studio – architecture studio (LT)

Andri Putri & Eugene Ong of O–P – architecture practice (US)

Helen Rix Runting, Rutger Sjögrim of SECRETARY – architecture practice (SW)

Maura Schmitt & Felix Steinhoff of asphalt / Kollektiv für Architektur — architecture collective (AT)

Kavakava – architecture office (EE)

Avarrus Architects – architectural office (FI)

Johannes Koch of Max von Werz Architects – architecture practice (MX)

Salto – architectural office (EE)

Schedule

Beginning

10.00 Arrival

10.15–10.30 Welcoming words by curators & Siim Tuksam (EKA Arh conference “To be continued…”)

Morning block

10.30–11.15 input:

Claire Zimmerman (CAN)
The Costs of Architecture, in Formation

11.15–12.15 panel:

Claire Zimmerman (CAN),
Maarja Kask & Ralf Lõoke / Salto (EE),
Johannes Koch / Max von Werz Arquitectos (MEX),
Atte Aaltonen, Niilo Ikonen & Pauli Siponen / Avarrus arkkitehdit (FIN)

Starting with introductions of the exhibits:

Untitled by Salto
Under one roof by Max von Werz Arquitectos
Simply Massive by Avarrus arkkitehdit

12.15–13.15 Lunch

Midday block

13.30–14.15 input:

Thomas Flores & Mathias-Vincent Palazzi (FRA)
Dialectics of Austerity

14.15–15.15 panel:

Thomas Flores & Mathias-Vincent Palazzi
Helen Rix Runting & Rutger Sjögrim / Secretary (SWE),
Mantas Perailtis (LIT),
Tõnis Savi (EE)

Starting with introductions of exhibits:

Lost Hallway by Secretary
A User’s Guide to Building a Plastic-free Architecture by Mantas Perailtis
There’s Always A Bill by Tõnis Savi

15.15–15.45 Coffee break/book fair

Afternoon block

16.30–17.15 input:

Phineas Harper (UK)
Architecture After Growth

17.15–18.15 panel:

Phineas Harper, Maura Schmitt & Felix Steinhoff / asphalt (AT),
Eugene Ong & Andri Putri / O–P (NY),
Siiri Vallner & Indrek Peil / Kavakava (EE)

Starting with introductions of exhibits:

A Roll of Marble by asphalt
Ground Plane by O–P
Work in Progress by Kavakava

Ending

18.15–18.30 ending words by curators

Later that evening: Supermuch gala at EKKM

TAB Symposium “Sounds Expensive”