Sounds Expensive

Tickets

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 moments of illusion within architecture. In architectural practice and discourse, illusions are daily companions and become especially apparent when questions of cost enter the conversation. Beyond the illusion of cheapness forefronted by TAB 2026, where reduced upfront costs postpone expenses and responsibilities into the future, the accompanying symposium extends this 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 is opened by invited architectural thinkers giving keynotes that introduce thematic blocks in close relation to the Biennale’s overarching theme. Writer, curator, sculptor and architectural critic Phineas Harper considers how much illusion is embedded in narratives of budgetary scarcity; Professor of Architecture Claire Zimmerman reflects on the relation between cost, access, class and intention; and architects and designers Thomas Flores and Mathias Palazzi propose an updated understanding of architectural frugality through the lens of excess. Together, the symposium takes a sounding at local and international approaches to dealing with constraints and invites a deeper contemplation of the cost of architecture. Afterall, 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 (FR)

Thomas Flores and Mathias Palazzi are, respectively, an architect-urbanist and a 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 ‘frugal architecture’, 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 “Dialectic of Austerity”.

IG: @mathias.palazzi / jeune.thomas

Phineas Harper – writer, critic, and 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 (EE) – architect/researcher

Mantas Peteraitis Architecture Studio (LT) – architecture studio

studio TAKK – architecture and research studio, Barcelona / New York (ES)

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

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

asphalt / Kollektiv für Architektur — architecture collective (AUT)

KavaKava – architecture office (EE)

Avarrus Architects – architectural office (FI)

Max von Werz Architects – architecture practice (MX)

Salto – architectural office (EE)

Practicalities

The Symposium day is structured into three blocks. Each block begins with a 45’ input by invited speakers, followed by a 5’ lighting talk of each exhibition participant introducing their work. The blocks conclude with a 45’ panel discussion, bringing all speakers from that session together, moderated by the respective input speaker(s).