Temporary theatre in Tallinn, Salto AB

Tallinn-based practice Salto Architects built theatre NO99 as a temporary facility to host cultural events during the special summer programme for the European Cultural Capital in 2011.

In central Tallinn, above the Baroque Skoone Bastion, the theatre stands in an area which served the function of city park until the Soviets occupied the city and made it a restricted area for the Navy with a little theatre. For the past 20 years the bastion had been closed, and was the subject of many different urban development plans which did not yield any concrete results.

NO99 Straw Theatre is an attempt to reuse this part of the city centre, including furnished green areas.

The architects of Salto AB used simple, economical materials such as straw with a wooden frame to build a temporary structure which has been secured by trusses. The bales have been just painted black but not covered, to left the feeling of the raw material. The rectangular main volume rises exactly on the spot of the previous navy theatre, and one of its staircases is used as a walkway by simply covering it over.

The temporary building, which the architects call a “complex on the borderline between merely utilitarian container-like construction and artistic installation”, was dismantled in November 2011 after a packed season of performances.

A few months ago the theatre was awarded the Estonian Culture Endowment Prize in the architecture category: proof that it is possible to build a construction with a green heart using a material which has been renowned as unsuitable for building since the days of the Three Little Pigs! Salto AB demonstrates that straw is actually a perfectly good building material, even in large-scale constructions.


Design team: Maarja Kask, Karli Luik, Ralf Lõoke, Pelle-Sten Viiburg, http://www.salto.ee
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Client: Theatre NO99
Size: 440 m2
Commission: 2010
Completed: May 2011
Dismantled: November 2011
Awards: World Architecture Festival: Shortlisted and voted as Highly Commended in the Culture Category, 2011
Estonian Culture Endowment Prize in Architecture Category, 2012

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