brickster
väänik
❊ VARES architecture residency
Year: 2024
Location: Valga, Estonia
Type: installation
Status: built
Team: Eneli Kleemann, Saskia Epp Lõhmus, Katariina Mustasaar, Mia Martina Peil, Marie Anette Veesaar, Anna Riin Velner, Lill Volmer
Building team: stuudio kollektiiv, Margus Tammik (MTÜ Eesti Noore Arhitektuuri Selts), stove mason apprentices guided by their teacher Paul Pääso (Valgamaa Vocational Training Centre)
Materials: repurposed silicate bricks, concrete foundation blocks, steel posts and mesh, logs
Something borrowed, something blue. A playful and practical structure for bathing on the Pedeli river bank.
Throughout September, we scavenged the waste treatment plants and demolition sites in the Estonian- Latvian borderlands. We aimed to explore the potential of leftover building materials by experiencing every stage of reuse firsthand.
One of our goals was to put non-linear design processes into practice. Research, collecting materials, building and designing took place simultaneously throughout the entire project.
After identifying the needs of the locals and selecting a site in collaboration with the municipality, we began collecting construction waste from various locations and experimenting with each material. To help shape our design proposal, we mapped our findings into a digital material catalogue.
Often seen as a cheap Soviet-era material, the silicate brick is a widely used modular building component. Exploring its adaptation to contemporary public space felt like a meaningful way to showcase the complexities of reuse-based design.
The unusual wall shapes, intricate laying patterns, pigmented mortar, and rough texture of the salvaged material posed a challenge — even for experienced masonry students.
While half of the building took place on-site, the other half was carried out at our residency base.
Even though reuse-based design proved to be both fun and feasible, we all know it can also be time-consuming and expensive. VARES left us with a list of unanswered questions and ideas, and we’re on a quest to explore them further through our next projects.
