On invitation from the Metropolitan University, architects Dorin Stefan and Augustin Ioan will speak to students and academic staff about public space and real life urban projects in Bucharest.
Dorin Stefan: 6 projects. A contextual aproach
It is said that over the last 10 years we have witnessed a form of wild capitalism in Romania. It is said that in Bucharest they practice a wild urbanism these days. It is said that in Bucharest they build a wild architecture these days. What does an architect say, do and hope In this context ?
The lecture introduces 6 projects from the current activity of DSBA architecture office. They are specific for the DSBA approach and representative for what is done and asked for today in Romania / Bucharest.
Augustin Ioan: Wild Wild East: Making and Unmaking of Public Space in Bucharest
Yes, there is a local tradition of public places. Such a tradition is either quoted (as in Amy Anderson's project) or it may be a burden to the present times. Bucharest is also known, in its pre-modern structure, as a place articulated around irregular public places, mostly located in the proximity of Orthodox churches as spaces for the gathering of various guilds. These "spontaneous" squares are called maidan, a Turkish-derived term, which turned in time into a derogatory name for the derelict, uncontrolled, and unkempt public places found in the socially mixed and spatially ambiguous outskirts of the Romanian cities.
With the (still unfinished) re-privatization of land and the frenzy of real estate development, maidan is, once again, back in business due to the lack of control over the development process. The left-over places are the only ones that can be envisioned for public use, while the existing ones, such as the Revolution Square in Bucharest are the target of aggressive private invasion with the active (and dubious) involvement of the city hall. The public places and the public use of urban space have been seriously compromised in an autistic, booming, business-oriented Bucharest. In a very short time, we went from conceptions of public place as empty squares for marches and parades to the absence of any expert debate on the making, appropriation, and use of public place and space. The malls downtown have become the sole providers of structured public places in Bucharest. This violent privatization of the public realm has taken place in the absence of professional debate or community reflection on the issue during the last fifteen years.
Rem Koolhas believes that the idea of building public places and especially the obsession with the necessity of its presence in the city are two favorite hobby horses with architects that, little by little, will stop having the importance they used to have in urban theories of the past decades (Koolhas, 1996). This does not have to be the case in Romania, where the ability of establish a community dialogue should be doubled after the disastrous record on public space generation of the last decades.
The lectures are organised by Metropolitan University in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute in London.
Special thanks to: Daniel Serafimovski, Senior Lecturer /Course Leader Department of Architecture and Spatial Design London
When: Thursday 1 November, 6.30 - 8.30 pm;
Where: Spring House (The Department of Architecture and Spatial Design)
40-44 Holloway Road London N7 8JL
Free entrace.