The exhibition hall was designed as an archive, where one could get acquainted with the constructed world born from the collaboration between the civil engineer August Komendant and the architects. The exhibition proceeded in chronological order, starting with the Estonian period and ending with the Venezuelan project.
The central spatial design element of the exhibition was six approximately 10-meter-long tables, on which drawings, sketches, photographs and small models were spread. The design of the tables was inspired by Komendant’s way of thinking about skillfully and honestly using everything that concrete allows. In accordance with the properties of the material, we tried to convey his motto through our design.
3.2-meter-long paper beams were formed from a honeycomb cardboard board folded into a triangular spatial element. Paper is a light and delicate material, and offers many possibilities in construction. In this sense, we have been “enchanted by paper!”
Visitors were able to walk through the exhibition between the paper beams, where projects that emerged at different times were exhibited. At the same time, visitors had the opportunity to be constantly connected to the Komendant’s human background, which was clearly visible on the back wall of the hall. There was a biography wall of the Komendant with his personal items – documents, books, family photos, awards.
The vertical accent in the hall was 1.75-meter-high light boxes, on which photographs of important buildings are displayed on printed fabric sides. The light boxes have an exhibition area of approximately 50 m2. In addition, 3D printed models, original models borrowed from the archive and cut-out models of buildings built on a large scale supported the visitors’ perception. The side walls of the hall also gave an overview of Komendant’s work, where there were six engineering drawings by August Komendant printed on wallpaper, alternating with thematic texts.
When creating the exhibition, the unique hall and its air space were taken into account, both from wall to wall and from floor to roof window. The steel trusses carrying the mezzanine, which are unique to the hall, also functioned as part of the exhibition, and also became an important part of the exhibition design.
There were six display tables in total, all of which consist of three main modules. We extended five tables because we had more material to display. In total, 18 (3.2 meter long) main modules and five 1.6 meter long additional modules were used. The tables had a total of approximately 70 m2 of display space.
Location
Tallinn, Estonia
Year
2018-2020
Status
Completed
Size
540 m2
Client
Estonian Museum of Architecture
Design team
Hanno Grossschmidt, Andrea Ainjärv
Curator
Carl-Dag Lige
Graphic Design
Marje Eelma (Tuumik Stuudio)
Awards
Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia in architecture 2020 for Exhibition Curation
