Finding a larger purpose than architecture

We already knew each other before studying architecture back in Estonia so it is not really architecture that brought us together. I believe there is some critical liberty to this awareness. We express ideas through personal experiences and life in general. Architecture, albeit a very important one, is simply a means and not the purpose of working together. In 2016, we were invited to participate at The Baltic Pavilion at the XV Venice Architecture Biennale and this contributed to formulate key ideas and texts into a project and a practice. 

Zooming into experience real life

We always say that there is a possibility in everything. A cheap detail or a mundane material can always be worked with a little bit of care and focus. It is nice to look at a detail even before the surrounding space is not developed yet at all, to work out how materials meet and then towards a larger scale. So the more common method of zooming in can actually be turned around and be very effective. We use this method at school for teaching and it is a generative tool when working with buildings, installations and exhibitions as clients can already engage in decisions that will be experienced in a tactile way through real life.

Maintaining a digital workspace and archive

We work between Estonia and the United Kingdom, so an organised online server is crucial. Mostly it is us two collaborating with students, architects and artists per project. We work hands on with sketches, collages, models and materials and we often convert the desk spaces into a workshop and then clean it again. Physical works get lost and forgotten all the time wherever we are, but at the same time I have become used to scan sketches and reference ideas from books and to keep a digital library and I really enjoy this mix of mediums in a constant flow. 

Accepting a more composed approach

I never had initial expectations towards being an architect and I always felt more of a sponge that absorbed various working cultures and methods. It is very educational to see the pros and cons, issues and potentials of big firms and freelancers, academics and practitioners, etc. Working with artists, galleries and museums have offered great opportunities for testing ideas. Only very recently did we start to opt in or out from projects that are of interest or not, thus slowly developing our own position, our own “reality”. Our generation is often under the pressure of newness, innovation and novel statements, but learning from and positioning oneself towards the complexity of the world takes time and I don’t mind developing slowly.