portfolio uxandra sacalis
Curriculum Vitae
Ruxandra Sacaliș e-mail: ruxisacalis@yahoo.com date of birth: 22 november 1984
Studies
1999 - 2003 National College ”Gheorghe Lazar”, Bucharest, Romania 2003 - 2006 graduated first, second and third year - Faculty of Architecture, University of Architecture and Urbanism ”Ion Mincu”, Bucharest, Romania 2006 - 2007 graduated first year master as Socrates-Erasums exchange student at the Faculty of Architecture at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands 2007 - 2009 fifth and sixth year at the University of Architecture and Urbanism ”Ion Mincu” Bucharest, Romania 2009 graduation, Faculty of Architecture, University of Architecture and Urbanism ”Ion Mincu” Bucharest, Romania 2011 - 2012 postgraduate course of Historic Conservation at Oxford Brookes University modules thought&skills acquired: • Historical Studies 1: Medieval Buildings • Historical Studies 2: Post Medieval Buildings • Design for Conservation: developed a critical understanding of the processes involved in designing in a historic context • Conservation and Regeneration: Theory, Law and Practice: theoretical and practical concepts in the field of conservation. It also critically examined the politics and philosophy of conservation underpinning present policies and practice • Building Construction and Repair: the properties of traditional building materials with their decay issues and methods of repair in relation to historic buildings and also included workshops of lime, brick, thatch and cob • Historic Building Analysis and Recording: developed the expertise in understanding the architectural and historical characteristics of a building • Conservation Economics: introduced the financial and economic aspects specific to conservation Dissertation title: “Challenges to conservation and restoration of carved wooden ornament in historic buildings”
Workshops and additional courses
2007 Learning from O.M. Ungers, workshop at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands, prof. Erika Mühlthaler 2010 Course of Editorial Design, at the Centre for Independent Journalism, Bucharest, Romania, prof. Raymond Bobar 2011 Rammed Earth Workshop, workshop organized by OxArch (Oxford Architecture Society) in Oxford and led by Rowland Keeble of RamCast (http://www.rammed-earth.info/) 2011 Dry Stone Walling Workshop, workshop organized by The Churches Conservation Trust at All Saints Church, Billesley, Warwickshire 2012 Vertical Living Walls, workshop organized by OxArch (Oxford Architecture Society) in Oxford and led by biodesigner Ana Maria Garcia of Organizmo (http://organizmo.org/)
Professional experience august 2008 - december 2008 internship at eckert eckert architekten ag Zürich, Switzerland, www.e2a.ch Kunsthaus Zürich competition: presentation Marina Tiefenbrunnen, Zürich, design development workshop: concept, presentation Neu Apostoliche Kirche residential unit, Vorprojekt: concept, plan layout, cad drawings, 3d, models Escherpark - Zürich Enge housing project: post-competition phase: plan layouts, cad drawings, presentation september 2009 - december 2009 junior architect at Soare & Yokina Associate Architects, Bucharest, Romania, www. syaa.ro San Giogio Morgeto competition, Calabria, Italy: concept, 3d, renderings, presentation T.U.B. (Transcentral-Urban-Bucuresti): study for pedestrian route in historical Bucharest: urban study in collaboration with other architecture offices from Bucharest, http://www.t-u-b.ro/ Corcova wine cellar, interior proposal: 3d, renderings Attic refurbishment and extension in a Bucharest villa, execution phase: cad drawings Exhibitions&Awards 1..tri.foi. (.tre.foil. : a wooden stool) exhibited at ROmanian Design 2012 and at BNAB 2012 (Romanian Architecture Biennale 2012) where it was nominated by the jury 2. mention award at the architecture competition “Concurs Icoanei 2-8” (proposal of insertion in historic urban tissue) in Bucharest Romania in May 2011, https://picasaweb.google.com/110563791357317254554/Proiecte# Technical Skills Autocad 3dsMax, Rhinoceros, Sketch-up Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator Language skills English - written and spoken, ielts certificate Band 8.0 French - written and spoken; Certificat du Centre de Comunication, Langue et Technologie de l’Université de Technologie d’Eindhoven German - beginner, written and spoken, B1.1 level Personal interests and activities Traveling, industrial design, reading, music
Content
Academic
Individual House in Bucharest Historic Conservation Course
Competition
“Concurs Manifest Icoanei 2-8”, Bucharest, Romania Preservation as provocation: rethinking Salk Institute
Professional
Escherpark - Zürich Enge housing project Design development workshop: Marina Tiefenbrunnen, Zürich
Design
.tri.foi. + chair
Academic
Competition
Professional
Design
academic work
2nd year
Individual House in Bucharest University of Architecture and Urbanism Ion Mincu, Bucharest
The area is located next to the centre of Bucharest in a well known inter-war neighborhood. The street is a hidden alley, away from the traffic and the agitation of the big boulevards. The street has an air of intimacy and peace. The houses have a diverse architecture, specific to the inter-war Bucharest, a fact that offers a unique and picturesque quality to the area. The alignment is retreated from the street line and has a dynamic move due to elements like bow-windows, loggias, balconies, terraces, eaves etc. All of these determine a better contour of the limit between public and private and an alert rhythm of the facade, that offers the street a special dynamism The access in the houses is lateral or hidden. The existence of the alley-ways is another picturesque element specific to the architecture of Bucharest. Almost all the houses facing the street have the same height (two or three floors) and are designed for one or two families.
building site
height analysis
alignment analysis
site plan
access typology analysis
The proposed house is an individual house, for one family with one floor. The house respects the height of the old surrounding buildings and the piano-nobile and tries to continue the dynamic rhythm of the facades and integrate in the atmosphere of the street. The ground floor has a flexible layout. It hosts the living room which is oriented towards the street. The living is connected with the dinning room which opens towards the back garden. Next to the living is the study room. The private rooms are at the upper level: one master bedroom and two bedrooms, for children. The house opens up towards the calm street and towards the garden.
Ground floor plan 1:200
First floor plan 1:200
Basement floor plan 1:200
Section 1:200
North-west elevation
South-west elevation
Historic Conservation course 2011-2012 at Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
competitions
Concurs Manifest Icoanei 2-8, Bucharest mention award, May 2011
Preservation as provocation: rethinking Salk Institute competition 2009
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
La Jolla downtown
San Diego Residential
topography
axial
split
Salk Institute University of San Diego
symmetry
Project development/Study models
The site
Basilica of St Francisc of Assisi
Alhambra
Diocletian Palace, Split, Croatia
Original historic references
water course
axial
centrality
The concept
Laboratories building
Community Center building
Residential
The existing building is in a strong relationship with the topography of the site. The axial, symmetrical position of the laboratories continues the split of the geo-morphological movement of the canyon. Also, it can be said that the canyon “opened” itself continuing the architectural gesture and leaving the “façade to the sky”, as L. Barragan called it, open towards the ocean. There is a duality in this relationship, a dialog between architecture and nature: this strong cut in the canyon finds itself as a strong gesture in the architectural proposal of Louis Kahn. The courtyard, with its water element that guides the movement to the ocean, reminds us of the stone courtyards in the medieval monasteries, and so, giving a more powerful and contemplative meaning to the entire site. The extension is due to have three major buildings: the laboratories, the community center and the residential facilities. The urban proposal tries to create a dialog with the existing building through geometry and axial development (keeping the axis of the existing building). The axis, the symmetry, the rhythm are elements explored in the project. The proposal rests on the two sides of the canyon. The view from the courtyard is to be protected as a prior gesture and so, on one side, part of the project will be set into the slope, but with a view towards the ocean (the residential facilities). On the other side the axis of the existing building is to be kept as the main axis of composition. The community center building is set at the end of this axis. This axial development is marked by a line of water, reiterating in this way the water line from the original project, and finds its ending in the inner courtyard of the community center. This courtyard makes reference to those of the medieval monasteries, as a place of contemplation, meetings and informal discussions. The gesture is symmetrical and cyclic: the water is starting from ‘a point’, in the original court, has a path and disappears into ‘a point’ in the inner courtyard.
Site plan
1. Lobby & reception s = 45.3 m² 2. Office s = 25 m² 3. Library entrance 4. Computer area s= 52 m² 5. Book shelves s = 84.7m² 6. Reading 7. Loggia s = 22.3 m² 8. Newspaper s = 50 m² 9. Magazines s =57.8 m² 10. Lounge/media/dvd s = 70.8 m² 11. Void
1. Entrance 2. Laboratory - experiment s = 923.2 m² 3. Laboratory - writing information s = 229.7 m² 4. Offices s = 360.2 m² 5. Storage s = 300 m² 6. Technical space s = 100 m² 8. Green house s= 270 m² 9. Preparation room s= 130 m²
Plan +5,20 m 1:750
1. Foyer s = 91 m² 2. Conference room s = 115 m² 3. Meeting room s = 53 m² 4. Offices s = 133.2 m² 5. Meeting s = 37.8 m² 6. Void
1. Entrance 2. Laboratory - experiment s = 923.2 m² 3. Laboratory - writing information s = 229.7 m² 4. Offices s = 360.2 m² 5. Storage s = 235.5 m² 6. Technical space s = 82.9 m² 7. Light court
Plan +0,00 m 1:750
1. Foyer s = 260 m² 2. Multipurpose hall (possible to divide into three halls) s = 270 m² 3. Bar s = 33.5 m² 4. Void
1. Entrance 2. Laboratory - experiment s = 923.2 m² 3. Laboratory - writing information s = 229.7 m² 4. Offices s = 360.2 m² 5. Storage s = 300 m² 6. Technical space s = 100 m² 7. Light court
Plan -3,20 m 1:750
1. Entrance s = 58.5 m² 2. Reception s = 24 m² 3. Office s = 33.9 m² 4. Restaurant s = 115.54 m² 5. Oficiu s = 34.6 m² 6. Bar/Lounge/Cafe s = 212.2 7. Court s = 174.2 8. Void
Plan -6,40 m 1:750
1. Lockers s = 67.1 m² 2. Pool s = 174.2 m² 3. Pool s = 185.5 m² 4. Massage s = 29.1 m² 5. Gym s = 75.4 m² 6. Kitchen s = 98.9 m² 7. Foyer for employees s = 80.1 m² 8. Lockers employees s = 20.2 m² 9. Technical space s = 44.5 m²
Plan -9,60 m 1:750
Elevation 1:750
Section_1 1:750
Section_2 1:750
professional work
Escherpark - Zürich Enge housing project internship at e 2 a eckert eckert architekten ag, Zürich, Switzerland
Site plan
Buildings’ layout
The clear-cut construction site of Escherpark is in close proximity to large parks, art, cult and culture. Schools and leisure facilities, within walking distance and the reference to the nearby lake make this area an ideal place to live. The city garden, linking a development-related open-space structure with neighborhoodrelated common areas, anchors the project in the qualities of the neighborhood. The development structure occupies the land with four house types in rhythmic sequence and follows the vertical separation of the north sloping topography. The clear space between the buildings is a park: a continuous, stretched meandering vegetation field. An open space strip surrounds the individual buildings in order to maintain an appropriate distance from the transparent background of inserted vegetation. Existing trees are integrated into this layer of vegetation and are supplemented with scattered trees. The profile of the lower level garage is thought in accordance with the position of significant individual existing trees. The planned coverage ensured the proposed plant growth. The result is a pivate inner world, produced by framing out the graden into pictures on the inner apartment’s walls. A free-extending pathway system between the buildings offers in the area of the old trees openings for pause and relaxation.
Site plan
kept trees cut trees proposed trees
Existing kept trees
Section BB’
Basement floor plan, garage and cellar kept trees cut trees proposed trees
Upper floor plan
Facade detail
Street view
Longitudinal section
Axonometric view of the 4 building types
Typical floor plan type B
Typical floor plan type A
Typical floor plan type C
Typical floor plan type D
Design development workshop: Marina Tiefenbrunnen, Z端rich intership at e 2 a eckert eckert architekten ag, Z端rich, Switzerland
The project proposes an alternative for the lake shore at Tiefenbrunnen in Zurich by improving the quality of the space and giving it back to the inhabitants. It creates an open public space for relaxation and spending free time next to the water and under the sky, combined with the function of a port for small boats.
design
.tri.foi. / .tre.foil.
2012 exhibited at ROmanian Design (ROD) 2012 nominated at the Romanian Architecture Biennale 2012 (BNAB 2012)
.tre.foil. is a simple wooden stool that explores the rural culture, particularly the traditional hand-crafted wooden objects. The inspiration comes from the low three-legged stool that in most regions of Romania accompanied the dinning table that gathered the family around in a farmer’s house. The bond between the farmer and its objects was defined by the craft and knowledge used in realising them. The simplicity in function and construction of the crafted objects shows their relationship with the user: to simply serve his daily activities around the farm. The current stool tries to explore this balanced relationship between function, construction and craft, but finding contemporary means of expression through the wooden joints. The minimal structure of the stool and the way it is constructed is meant to be easily understood and to define its aesthetic features.
+ chair 2011
“+ chair� is a simple dining, wooden chair that reinterprets the classical cross-shaped joint, which is the main feature of the structure, together with the simple backrest. The chair explores the way a minimal and economic use of materials can respond to a natural and comfortable seating. The simple structural joints make use of just the necessary material. The clear solid wood frame holds a seat that is detached from the cross-like joint of the chair in order to enhance the simple structure and to make visible, just from one look, how the chair works. The seat tapers itself from 4 cm in its center to 1,2 cm at the edges. The textile soft cover is optional and is meant for a more comfortable seating. The chair uses traditional techniques of the local cabinetmakers.
Ruxandra SacaliČ™ e-mail: ruxisacalis@yahoo.com