Many countries face the same challenge: an aging housing stock. Large-scale apartment buildings from the latter half of the 20th century are often technically outdated, energetically inefficient, and in urgent need of renovation.
When Peeter Pere Architects – an architect office in Tallinn (Estonia) – got approached by an engineering firm with a commission from an apartment association to address precisely these issues, they were intrigued. Could they solve the technical problems and improve spatial quality and everyday life through architectural thinking?
The urgency and relevance of this question is also reflected on a wider stage: this year’s (2025) Estonian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale explores how the renovation wave, driven by climate neutrality goals, can go beyond raising energy labels—towards enhancing social and spatial qualities in housing districts.
In the project, they aimed to go beyond surface-level improvements. Firstly, they planned to use prefabricated timber-frame elements for the renovation. Timber offers a renewable, carbon-storing solution. Prefabrication ensures precision, shortens construction time, minimizes disturbance for residents, and delivers consistent quality. The lightweight elements are ideal for retrofitting structures with limited load-bearing capacity. Ventilation ducts for the new technical systems with heat recovery were integrated directly into these wall elements. The building’s roof will be used to install solar panels.
Accessibility was a major challenge. The five-story walk-up with a basement excluded people with mobility issues. The solution reconfigured the staircase entirely: by relocating part of it to the outer facade and aligning the elevator with full floors rather than half-landings, they ensured universal access.
Funding was complex due to collective ownership and disqualification from certain EU support schemes. To offset costs, they proposed adding two new floors of apartments. These are built with the same prefabricated timber system and designed as a lively spatial grid, with staggered volumes that create terraces on both street and courtyard sides. This gave them the opportunity to transform not only the building’s energy performance, but also its identity within the urban fabric.
This project offered the architects a rare chance to engage deeply with post-war mass housing—a typology far from the usual small-scale, boutique work. Architekt Kirke Päss participated in the Energy Scouts program and chose to apply her knowledge to this project. It enabled her to better understand and calculate energy and CO₂ savings—areas that often remain outside the architect’s direct scope.
While large-scale renovation is still not the architect’s office everyday focus, this project gave them insights into what thousands of residents in such buildings are facing—and how design can help improve not only efficiency, but also dignity in daily life.
Photovoltaics
Thermal
Insulation
Energy
Management
- Industry Sector: architecture/construction
- Energy Source: district heating, electrical energy
- Energy savings potential: 134.75 MWh electricity per year
- CO2 savings potential:84.1 t of CO2 per year
- Potential cost reduction: 49,170 € per year
- Investment costs: 5,005,200 €
- Company:
Peeter Pere Architects
Tallinn
Estonia
https://peeterpere.ee/en/
