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Personal information: Name, surname: Alexandru Damian Date and place of birth: 12.04.1989, Timişoara, Romania Telephone: +40766600736 Email: damian.aleksandar@gmail.com Languages: English, Spanish, Romanian, Croatian, Serbian (cyrillic & latin) Educational background: Faculty of Architecture Polytechnic University Timişoara - Romania Superior Technical School of Architecture University of Seville - Spain Work experience: Studio Mjölk architekti - Prague & Liberec, Czech Republic (2013) Studio Tab - Timişoara, Romania (2013-2014) Architectural competitions: FIRST PRIZE: Local competition “Timisoara City Gate”, project: a city gate for Torontalului Entracnce. THIRD PRIZE: National competition “CASA” (2010), project: “A Sculptor’s house” in Bucharest. FINALIST: International competition “The Shelter Student Architectural Design Competition” (2013), project: “Time Shelter”. NOMINATED: National competition “Arhetipuri”(2011), project: “Step On”, a transformation of a public space. NOMINATED: Arch. national competition “Inspired - architecture” (2010), project: “Info Pavilion”, in Timisoara. Published work: Project: “Timisoara City Gate” was published on “Igloo” online architecture magazine and on local news. Project: “Colective Housing - Lörrach, Germany” was published on Igloo online arhchitecture magazine. Project: “Museum of the Revolution ‘89” was exhibited in the Memorial of the Romanian Revolution, from Timişoara. Project: “Mansarda” was published on www.arhgora.com, interior design for the Annual Architecture of Timişoara. Project: “Transformable Stool” was publised on the sustainable design website “www.greenspotter.ro”. Project: “CASA - A Sculptor’s house” was publicated in the national magazine “Arhitectura” no. 22. Social skills and competences: Communicative, a good team worker, optimistic, inspired, innovative, watchful during projects and workshops and always looking for the right solutions. Skills and competences: Artistic: graphical visualisation, interior, exterior renderings, axonometric & 2D schemes, hand sketches, conceptual design. Technical: drawing large scale details, technical axonometries, plans, sections, facades. Physical: Understanding and working with different materials, using natural textures, reusing good materials, building models. Programs: Revit, Autocad, Photoshop & PS plugins, Indesign, Illustrator, G. Sketchup, Microsoft Office programs, Prezi.
Written studies: 1. “Dobrovic’s master piese: The Generastab complex” An elaborate study about the buildings of the former Federal Ministry of Defense of Yugoslavia, located in central Belgrade, Serbia. The reaserch follows the theories and the story of the famous serbian architect Nikola Dobrovic and his Generalstab project, since it’s creation to it’s destruction, bombed by NATO in 1999. Language: Romanian, Serbian (latin) 2. “Identity without space, space without identity” A case study about Romanian gypsies since their arrival to Europe, their life through the communist era, to their euro-migrations since Romania became an EU member in 2007. The study concentartes on the transformation of the public space and the state of mind of the foreign residents, depending on where they migrate. Language: Spanish
Internship at Studio Mjölk architekti - Prague & Liberec, Czech Republic
PROJECTS
Status
01
FENCE TM
Realized
02
MANSARDA
Realized
03
U HOUSE
Under contrsuction
04
SKYLIGHT HOUSE
Under construction
05
ARTISANAL GLASS WORKSHOPS
Project proposal
06
HUNEDOARA LIVING MUSEUM
Project proposal
07
BELGRADE NATO BOMBING MUSEUM
Diploma - in progress
08
Lörrach HOUSING
Faculty project
09
MUSEUM OF THE REVOLUTION ‘89
Faculty project
10
HOUSE 123
Faculty project
11
NAKO CASTLE WOOD FRAMING
Faculty Project
12
TRANSFORMABLE STOOL
Faculty project
13
WOOD PAVILION
Faculty project
14
HOUSE & SHOP
Faculty Project
15
THRON HOUSE
Faculty Project
16
HOUSE MMM
Faculty Project
17
TIME SHELTER
Competition
18
TIMISOARA CITY GATE
Competition
19
HIDE & SEEK
Competition
20
A SCULPOR’S HOUSE
Competition
21
DA PHOTOGRAPHY
Architecture photography
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LOCATION: TIMISOARA, ROMANIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: REALIZED
01
FENCE TM The project refers to a story of a fence in the Banat region of Romania, a region where people used to have and still have huge green gardens, due to it’s rich soil, giving me the opportunity to create a playfull rhythm of lights and shadows, and to manipulate the pedestrian’s eye inside the garden of my client. While passing by, I wanted to show people a small part of its beauty through the tight space between the vertical wood planks mounted on the fence’s steel structure and the three gates. Adopting this type of a limit between private space (garden) and public space (street), I wanted to create an example for the street and for the most of the neighbors who after the ‘89 revolution against communism changed dramatically their property psychology and limit perception (mostly fences) from transparent to opaque, changing the street’s initial perception. The street must regain its “transparency” and expand its space into the people’s gardens, and the people must feel a part of the street. The project involved family work from foundatitions to woodworking and frame painting. Due to it’s family work, this 17 meter long fence with three gates was finished without exceeding 2000 euros.
Door hande design (exterior)
Street view
View into the garden through the vertical planks
Door hande design (interior)
Post office design (interior)
Post office design (exterior)
Total lenght: 17,1 m (2 x car gate = 2 x 3,4m, 1 pedestrian gate = 1,2m, fence = 9,1m
MANSARDA The concept was born from the desire to achieve a living space that preserves the atmosphere of the attic of a house (built in the 1930’s) in Timisoara, combined with a contemporary feeling and to continue supporting the lifestyle held in this house. I wanted to preserve the visibility of the original materials, seeking a continuation of the dialog with its past and also introducing new materials and habits in a way that the relation between new and old would be pleasant and harmonious. The warm presence of the wood, embraces the space, and the burned red brick is used as a chromatic accent in different places of the attic, the old chimney remaining the main node of the space. The attic space is harmoniously subdivided into several areas so that life in this space is warm and comfortable. Spatial fluidity, “home-made” objects, the manipulation of the visibility between the different areas and the playful natural and artificial light, transform the space into a dynamic but also relaxing shelter that responds correctly to all the needs of the client (living room, studying area, sleeping area, a place for reading and playing guitar and a bathroom). Because of the very limited budget, I relied on reusing as much as possible of the existing materials (planks, wood beams, truss wood, bricks, old doors etc.), reminding of the past memory of the attic. This project also involved family work because of the limited budget. 80% of the execution of the project was made by the family members, from thermal insulating and sanitary instalation to furnishing the last pieces of furniture.
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2011-2012 STATUS: REALIZED
02
MANSARDA The concept was born from the desire to achieve a living space that preserves the atmosphere of the attic of a house (built in the 1930’s) in Timisoara, combined with a contemporary feeling and to continue supporting the lifestyle held in this house. I wanted to preserve the visibility of the original materials, seeking a continuation of the dialog with its past and also introducing new materials and habits in a way that the relation between new and old would be pleasant and harmonious. The warm presence of the wood, embraces the space, and the burned red brick is used as a chromatic accent in different places of the attic, the old chimney remaining the main node of the space. The attic space is harmoniously subdivided into several areas so that life in this space is warm and comfortable. Spatial fluidity, “home-made� objects, the manipulation of the visibility between the different areas and the playful natural and artificial light, transform the space into a dynamic but also relaxing shelter that responds correctly to all the needs of the client (living room, studying area, sleeping area, a place for reading and playing guitar and a bathroom). Because of the very limited budget, I relied on reusing as much as possible of the existing materials (planks, wood beams, truss wood, bricks, old doors etc.), reminding of the past memory of the attic. This project also involved family work because of the limited budget. 80% of the execution of the project was made by the family members, from thermal insulating and sanitary instalation to furnishing the last pieces of furniture.
wood metal. white
Table design
fabric. white The first view after opening the entrance door
pencil support
table
Old chimney
The attic before renovation
Future entrance door
Living room area
Background: entrance door chimney and wardrobe
Bedroom area
Insulating
Building the new floor
Panorama: Study area, living room area, bedroom area
Building the wardrobe
Pencil support
Bed
Bathroom
Chimney detail
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: UNDER CONSTRUCTION INTERSHIP AT: STUDIO TAB, ROMANIA
03
U HOUSE Giroc is suburb from Timisoara, that has develpoed like most of the Romanian suburbs, fast and randomly, with a strong disorganized and uncontrollable character. In such a place, on piece of architecture decided to completely turn it’s back on its chaotic surroundings, creating its own universe through extreamly private interior and exterior spaces. The house, shaped like a “U”, focuses its attention and openes its interior spaces toward the main central courtyard, containing a generous terrace in direct relation with the living room, dining room and kitchen. From this terrace, a long pool emerges that visualy connects the house’s interior to its garden located on the other side of the yard. A canteliver window floats above the pool water, where the owner can sit down during evenings, and admire the subtle water refletion of the night sky. Other two private courtyards are hidden between the walls of this house, being completly invisible from the outside, openening toward the sky. One has a strong relation with the living room and bathroom, the other communicating with the fitness room. Our task was to take this minimal architectural composition, that was left unfinished, in an unconceived urban texture, and design its interior and exterior spaces, including landscape design, strengthening the interior-exterior spatial relation. From finishes to furniture, we added and solved its details, completing this project in a manner that will satisfy the clients minimalistic passion and the house’s original spatiality and clean solid character. This project was developed during my internship at the architecture office “Studio Tab”, from Timisoara, Romania.
Living room
Kitchen Bathroom & Courtyard 2
Interior: living room
Pool
Exterior facade
Interior proposal: Dining room and kitchen
Exterior proposal
Ground floor
LOCATION: ESELNITA, MH, ROMANIA YEAR: 2014 STATUS: UNDER CONSTRUCTION TEAM WORKER: OLIMPIA ONCI
04
SKYLIGHT HOUSE The house from Eselnita, is located along the Danube river, in Southwestern Romania. This is where Danube is at its greatest beauty from its spring in the Black Forrest from Germany, on its way to the Black Sea. The little house, from this little village, wich me and my colleague Olimpia Onci had to transform into a comfortable vaccation home, is owned by a local czech person, who grew up there, sorrounded by a strong czech minority living in those lands for many generations. Our client wanted to have his vacation house as a refuge from his busy city life, where he could find his memories from his long passed childhood, spent among his grandparents. The exteior of the house was kept simple, as the way it was before, repainted in traditional white and green colours and paved with local stone. One thing that he was certainly sure of, is that he wanted a strong presence of old brick and especialy natural wood in the interior spaces. Wood reminded him of the old tools that he used to make as a child to sell for the local Romanians or Serbs on the other side of Danube river. From the 3 different rooms located in the central part of the house, we transformed them into one generous living room. The main challenge of this space was the lack of natural light due to the other rooms that were sourounding it on all sides. Our solution was to create a huge central skylight that would bring natural sunlight and moonlight, highlighting the old structral wooden beams.
Entrance
Entrance Living room
Making the survey with my collegue & team worker Olimpia Onci
Old storage room
Old kitchen
Interior proposal: Kitchen (down), living room with a sky light (up)
LOCATION: HUNEDOARA, HD, ROMANIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: PROJECT PROPOSAL INTERSHIP AT: STUDIO TAB, ROMANIA COLABORATOR: STUDIO MODERNO, NORWAY
05
H LIVING MUSEUM Hunedoara Living Museum comes as an extension to the Corvin Castle surroundings, which by adding elements that support the atmosphere that the castle generates and recreates the image of a small traditional settlement adjacent to the castle walls. The project contains three elements that together create an object linked to the nearby castle but at the same time remains complete by itself, being able to generate it’s own activity. The first element would be the exterior museum, consisting of traditional houses which are to be rehabilitated and brought to today standards of accommodation. This will offer a unique experience to the visitors, allowing them to re-live in a small measure, the life of a person who lived on those lands centuries ago. This experience would be completed by reenactments, workshops and other events. These events that usually take place inside the castle, now would take place in the courtyard of the museum also. The courtyard is a space located in the middle of the site, having the traditional houses in the background. It spreads across the rest of the site and on the top of the new construction, offering a viewpoint to the castle. The third element of the project is a new construction. From the porch of a one of the houses it is almost an invisible object, offering a continuous surface and extending the courtyard. The interior opens towards the castle, allowing the outdoor scenery to be a part of the indoor. Looking at it from the castle, it looks as a horizontal slice in the surface of the hill, blending into the environment.
Situation plan
Ground floor plan
Concept & volumetric design Relation with the landscape Visual relation with Corvin Castle and the natural slope of the terrain Hidden architecture
Basement floor plan
Back courtyard
Multipurpose space
Restaurant, bar, ball room, exhibition space
LOCATION: BOLDESTI-SCAENI, ROMANIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: PROJECT PROPOSAL
06
H LIVING MUSEUM ARTISANAL GLASS WORKSHOPS The Romanian gypsy communities have always faced difficulties in integrating with the general society. Even today little things are done that try to diminish this problem, leading to the total exclusion of gypsies from our society and life style. Poor or wealthy, this led gypsies to live in an almost parallel universes, but right beside us, living by their own laws of life, exluding ours. Gypsies never had a good reputation of being smart or “normal�, but in the past they were among the best craftsman and artisans, every village or town was depending on their skilles of manual manufacturing. This project aims to try to reintegrad these communities in our society in a different way, keeping them together as a strong identity and to recreate what has been mainly lost, but still savable, the art of manual creation. The small town of Boldesti-Scaeni from Romania, contains a gypsy community that has been left unemployed - like most gypsy communities from Romania - due to the insolvency of an industrial glass factory where they have worked for many years. Using natural materials such as burned brick and wood, this project aimed to recreate this already mastered work with glass in a more artistical manner, where they can use, learn and regain their talent by following traditional methods for glass manufacturing. In this way they can continue practicing their skills and earn money honestly. Being located right next to the towns school and kindergarten the new construction also has an educational purpose, where workshops and organised visits can be held, teaching others about this old art, conecting Romanian or foreign citizens with this gypsy community. The main concept was to distribute all the necessary spaces for the new artisanal glass workshops around a central courtyard, being the main space for open air events. The pedestrian circulation was organised by attaching a porch along all sides of the new construction, becoming a buffer zone between the insde and the outside.
Ground floor plan
Exterior dining room, porch
Exterior working terrace Workshop and oven 100 sqm Interior workshop 22 sqm Interior workshop 20 sqm Cloakroom, shower, toilets 37 sqm Projection room, multifunctional room 30 sqm Exterior dining room Interior dining room 33 sqm Kitchen and storage 37 sqm Reception and storage 24 sqm Store, exposition room and storage 30 sqm
In the bacground: Exterior work space, and oven chimney
LOCATION: BELGRADE, SERBIA YEAR: 2014 STATUS: DIPLOMA PROJECT - in progress supervising professor: Drd. Arh. Cristian Blidariu
Year 2014 marks 15 years since one of the most tragical moments of Serbian modern history, the punitive 78 day NATO bombing, since 24 March untill 11 June 1999, led to the last act of phisical and ideological disintegration of Yugoslavia.
07
H LIVING MUSEUM BELGRADE BOMBING MUSEUM 1999 My study is based on the bomebed buildings of the former Federal Ministry of Defence of Yugoslavia from Belgrade(“Generalštab”), designed by serbian modernist architect Nikola Dobrović in 1953, being the symbol of progress and independence of the Iugoslav nation, but on the other hand, representing the moment of defeat and the end of this national project. The building that once represented the righ arm of freedom and sovereignty, for NATO was clasified as “the heart of the war machine”, bombing it together among other important architectural jewls, trying to put an end to the “new fascism” of the 90’s. This event introduced new meaning to these buildings, transforming NATO into an authentic architectural critic. As a multi-symbol of Serbian modern-progressive architecture, of destruction and of the surviving identity of the city, the ruins of “Generalštab” are in this sense, the most significant place we could start a discussion, based on the idea of creating a museum dedicated to the destruction and victims left beind by the NATO siege of Serbia. Ironically, the celebrity of these buildings “exploded” after they were bombed, becomeing one of the main attractions for foreign tourist, due to the “NATO sculptors”, wich had remodeled this masterpiece and introducing a new “aesthetic” and new meanings over the old ones. After 15 year of bombings, as Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss mentioned, the Generalštab buildings possess the folowing problem: “Wich void to identify with and witch void to remember, the one created by Nikola Dobrovic or the one created by NATO?”
BELGRADE. NATO BOMBING 1999
DISTRUCTION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE
PROPOSAL 1 The first vision is focused on the keeping of the partialy destroyed parts of Generalstab by embedding them visualy and phisicaly into the museum. With it’s opened wounds, it will create a scenographic background and the memorial itself. This solution will concentrate on adopting and reinterpretating the main concept of the buildings: the relation between “solid” and “void” and on the creation of a new “visual tension” and “sensorial experiences”. The scenography of the museum will be contain 3 different acts. In the first act, visitors will experience the virtual world of the war, ascending from darkness to a better future. The first vision is focused on the keeping of the partialy destroyed parts of Generalstab by embedding them visualy and phisicaly into the museum. With it’s opened wounds, it will create a scenographic background and the memorial itself. This solution will concentrate on adopting and reinterpretating the main concept of the buildings: the relation between “solid” and “void” and on the creation of a new “visual tension” and “sensorial experiences”. The scenography of the museum will be contain 3 different acts. In the first act, visitors will experience the virtual world of the war, ascending from darkness to a better future.
Concept
Street Section CONCEPT
PROPOSAL 2 The architecture of the second possible intervention highlights the “underground” character of the museum and the “bunker” feeling wich characterized Belgrade and other cities from Serbia for 78 days of bombing. The museum is “present” through “absence”, while the history and memory of these moments are being locked up genuine Pandora’s box, carefully buried under the new city layers.
This absence that clears the space in front of the Generalstab complex, is announced only through subtle use of vegetation - the only natural element that remaind, was reborn, and cohabitated among the ruins of war. The undergorund bunker introduces it’s visitors in a hidden world, through the medium of a memorial courtyard containing 78 trees, wich symbolize the 78 days of bombing. The solution thus aiming toward a subtle and hidden presence, is adaptable to any future formal or functional reinterpretation of Dobrovic’s complex.
LOCATION: Lรถrrach, GERMANY YEAR: 2013 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
08
H LIVING MUSEUM LÜrrach HOUSING Located in the South of Germany, the small town of Lorrach presented it’s desire to create a housing complex on a big empty lot, right at the base of the hill dominated by the presence of RÜtteln castle. This new neighbourhood had to respect the natural surroundings and to fit in with the existent urban texture and streetscape in order to offer continues public spaces and opening views toward the hill behind the city. My proposal contains two different types of housing thereby manageing to create different micro-communities contained by a larger macro-community defined by the whole proposal. The two types of collective housing also define two different types of life styles, one based on 4-floor freestanding houses, and the other on 2-floor row houses, each containg a frontyard and a backyard with a terrace, related to the proposed small stream of water or to the green wild-looking landscape proposal in the public spaces between the buildings. Each freestanding house, contains 4-5 appartaments, some of them developed on one single floor, others being more spatialy dynamic, containing rooms also in upper or lower floors, like connecting with other appartaments like puzzle pieces. Each freestanding house is developed on a vertical axis, containing underground parking spaces, while row houses show a stronger connection with ground level, street and garden.
Situation plan: marked buildings
Freetstanding house Central Section
Neighbourhood proposal Situation plan Circulation plan Marking the detailed buildings 3 row houses
Freetstanding house Ground floor plan
Freetstanding house Second floor plan
Row houses Gournd floor plan
Visualisation Public space in between freestanding and row houses Background: Rรถtteln castle
Third floor plan Marking the detailed section
Detailed section Language: Romanian
Detailed section Marking detailed elements
West facade
Facade detail: plan
East facade Facade detail: view
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2012 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
09
H LIVING MUSEUM MUSEUM OF THE REVOLUTION ‘89 The Romanian revolution against the communist regime started in December ‘89 15, in my hometown, Timişoara. It was the first city to proclaim its freedom. Nowadays, this event is perceived as a “whole” but it was actually felt differently by every single person or group of persons that took part to this fight for freedom. This fact challenged me to create a museum that would be “split” on days, and that it would show the most important events that happened every day. This way the concept of the “memorial calendar” gained life. The role of the “calendar” of the past is to manipulate the visitor ’s feelings and to make him relive the atmosphere of the events of revolution, even if he participated or not. Every space will describe a day of the revolution and it will be materialized in a form that expresses those events in the best way possible. The will be in a relation with the outside or introverted, designed to emotionally link the visitors with earth or sky. To emphasize the memory of the events I chose to bury the museum’s route and its spaces, interrupting the visitors visual contact with present reality and detaching them from the present time. In this way I wish to concentrate their attention to their past, the city’s memory and the way that it manifests and it continues living through us. The “burial” also symbolizes the passing time and generations which had a direct or indirect contact with the spark of the revolution. In the same time, the noise from the streets are free to flood this space of commemoration and create a better connection between the history and the city’s actual pulse.
Axonometries: museum & proposed housing
Transversal section
Longitudinal section
Street level Public space
Ground floor level
Interior
Library courtyard
Underground floor level Reception Shop
Museum courtyard memorial “Operei/Victory Square, Timisoara”
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2011 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
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H LIVING123 HOUSE MUSEUM House 123 was designed as an “infill” in a very quiet and rural neighborhood from Timişoara where once stood an old little corner house that was demolished. The provocation was to create a new form of architecture that will relate to it’s existing neighbors. That meant decent interior space in a small volume for a family with one child. The task was also to create the opportunity to rent the basement or to be used as a small family business. It was also necessary to offer a small court yard for the basement to be used as semipublic space for exhibition/ relaxation for the future business that will be conducted in the basement level. In other words the house had to entrances, on from the ground floor, connected with the house, and one from the basement connected with the working area. The two were also connected through an interior stair. This is how the concept of 123 was born, by offering a different exterior appearance for every level of the house, that had different functions. 1: Basement - working area 2: Ground floor - day spaces (living room, dining, kitchen) 3: Night spaces - Bedrooms and a terrace.
Main street view
Basement: comercial/for rent, office Ground floor: House, living room, dining room & kitchen First floor: Bedrooms & terraces
Concept sketches
Neighbour’s house Street house tipology Aligning to cornice & roof
Secondary street view
Creating 3 different zones for: ground floor, 1st floor and basement
Creating 3 different volumes for ground floor, 1st floor and basement
LOCATION: SANICOLAU MARE, ROMANIA YEAR: 2012 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
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H LIVING Nakó CASTLE MUSEUM The Nakó castle is situated in the center of Sânnicolau Mare town, in western Romania near the Serbo-Hungarian border. Built by count Kálmán Nakó in 1864, during the Austro-Hunagrian empire. Today it is the main attarcyion of this small town, but it’s lack of protection in the past decades brought structural degradation to it’s wooden roof frame, exterior walls, ceilings etc. My task was to study and survey the upper roof of the castle including the tower, and detect all the structural problems of the beams, poles, rafters and other structural elements including brick walls and chimney structures. It was also very important to understand the way this complex wooden structure works from top to bottom, to understand the complexity of the wooden joints and the way they connect to the exterior structural brick walls. After the survey, structural meseaures were taken for the degrated elements, studying and proposing modern techiniques to repair and to protect the original wooden frame as musch as possible. This project was developed by different teams of students, each team acting on different parts or places of the castle, from roof, walls, ceilings, interior rooms, basement to the original garden plan proposal.
Structural axonometries
Marking structural problems of the wooden frame
Wooden frame plan Height: frame base
Wooden frame plan Height: 1/2
Wooden frame transversal sections
Wooden frame longitudinal sections
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
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H LIVING MUSEUM STOOL TRANSFORMABLE “Reuse” is the principle that stood behind the creation of this transformable stool, composed out of 88 wooden modules which resulted from the shortening of the battens of a fence. These small modules are connected with threaded rods, nuts and washers, contributing to the stool’s mechanical design, through which it can change its geometrical shape, being able to completely open itself and to be used as a small table, picnic pad or anything that would be useful at a certain moment. Easy to build, easy to pack and fun to use... a transformable wooden stool made out of tinny wooden battens can shape up your day!
Pad
Pack
Shape it how you like
Joint system
Work in progress
90% complete
Use it as a pad
...or as chair
Mechanical system threaded rods, nuts and washers Shape it in a cube
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2009 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
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H LIVINGPAVILION WOOD MUSEUM A wooden pavilion was constructed over an utopian site far away from planet Earth. The site was covered by a surface of perfectly smoothed rock, with a carved whole in the middle of it, wich had to become the buffer zone between the underground carved spaces and the wooden frame construction. Man had nowhere else to go, because all that was left is a small cylindrical shaped volume with a smooth slope in which he could excavate to create his main spaces for living. A bedroom, kitchen and a bathroom. Then he created a wooden pavilion that was connected to the monolithic excavated spaces, by a system of stairs. It was used as an observatory during day time, and this way “man� could spend his every day and night watching the past glory of planet Earth .
Stairs & balcony
Model, scale 1:50
Wooden pavilion Section
Wooden pavilion Facade & underground section
H LIVING MUSEUM The drawings were made using hard “H� pencils for the light grey textures combined with black pastel pencils.
Wooden pavilion & underground Section
LOCATION: MOSNITA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2011 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
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H LIVING&MUSEUM HOUSE SHOP The house is located in a central part of the village MoĹ&#x;niĹŁa, a typical village from the Banat region. The empty site was for the construction of a modern house for a family with two children. The aim of the project was also to create a small market or a multi-product shop on the ground floor which would serve the residents of the village and would bring a higher profit for the family. The challange of this project was how could these two functions (housing and commercial) work together under the same roof and how to separate them in the best way possible, to avoid unpleasant situations between the public space of the shop and the private space of the house and backyard. The solution was the creation of an artificial hill behind the house and under the living room terrace, that will block the view towards the private yard, but also create a pleasant view from inside the shop, a small rocky garden. These small relations between public and private space were essential to this project.
Back yard, terrace & pool
Street view Ground floor - shop Upper floors - house
Street facade
Transversal Section
Conceptual sketches
Back yard & terrace
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2009 STATUS: FACULTY PROJECT
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H LIVINGHOUSE THORN MUSEUM A “house in nature” located only ten kilometers away from Timişoara took shape in a place surrounded by wild vegetation, animals and old forests. It’s main goal was to relate with nature and it’s surrounding landscape. The concept of the house was inspired by a thorny plant that I stepped on flatten it to the ground. That is why I decided to situate the house in the most inconvenient place of the field, in “the field of thorns”, and to spear the beautiful parts and offer them as landscape panoramas or framing the landscape from inside the house. Every “day” space is oriented towards the forest, and every “night” space is oriented towards the small hill from the back of the house. The structure of the house is mainly made out of cast-in-situ concrete. As a plant, the house has its roots in the ground, buried in the hill, and it opens its eyes towards the sun and natural beauty.
Conceptual sketches
Situation plan
Interior spaces: Day spaces - opened toward the landscape and light Night spaces - opened toward the backyard
Connecting the house with the the natural souroundings, making possible to walk to the rooftop from the small hill behind it.
LOCATION: POIENILE DE SUB MUNTE, MM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2012 STATUS: COMPETITION
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H LIVING MMM HOUSES MUSEUM Maramures Mountain House. The Story: By choosing a mystical place that still retains the core and the symbols of the past, I wanted to create a sincere, friendly and playful architecture that would continue the process of traditional ukranian “maramureşan” creation and respect the local laws of nature. Thus, the home from “Poienile de sub Munte” - ”Meadows beneath the Mountain” - a small urkainian town, was shaped by different methods underlying visual, tactile, and acoustic memory of this corner of Romania, where the lives of people, animals and nature are one with architecture, and each object has its own ‘s story. Therefore, MMMhouse concept aims to highlight these values and offer to the local residents hope that this is not the last chapter of their story. The story will continue in the coming years by new ones with new events and new characters that will give life forgotten place. The connection between old and new will arise, the village will continue living, and the tradition will continue to flourish. The forest will become a symbol of nature and freedom, it will adopt a more important meaning, and people will talk about the past, present and future with the same faith as before.
Hobby space
Sleepling space Approaching the cooking/dining space
Cooking/dining space
Interior: Resting/hobby space
Exterior: Resting/hobby space
Section
Form inspiration - Poienile de Sub Munte
Your needs = no. of treehouses
LOCATION: CARSKA BARA LAKES, SERBIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: COMPETITION
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TIME SHELTER H LIVING MUSEUM
Located in Vojvodina Province, Serbia, on the water surface of Belo Jezero (White Lake) from Carska Bara, this shelter is in the heart of the old Pannonian sea wich today stands as a vast plain with a neutral landscape where space loses its limits to man, and man looses scale to its surroundings. Here the sky acts as a curved surface covering this “infinite� horizontal space from east to west, surrounded by the sounds of wind and rain, offers you a strong presence of time, in a continuously changing landscape. Our concept is to enclose a small space in this vast horizontal land, lift it from the ground and position it on water to emphasize the absence of any kind of natural landscape, or any type of connection to society. Therefore, in this space you lose every presence of your daily life and gain the presence of the moment, the true expression of present time, where abstract elements as light and sound, guide your way to the roots of life. It is here where me and my team worker Olimpia Onci, chose to create a vertical axis, penetrating our shelter by a circular void, and creating a connection between earth and sky through water. From the vast horizontal axis you use to arrive to the shelter, it suddenly changes to a vertical void, and under the entrance of the shelter you are being right at the intersection of these two axis.
The only way getting to the shelter is by using a boat, making the visitors from Carska Bara curios about the lonely freestanding wooden structure seen from the surrounding shores. Once inside the view over the plains disappears, and you enter inside a space that celebrates itself. You take part of a ceremony of silence where the only thing you can see is the changing colors of the sky and it’s reflection in the water surface through this circular void where time itself seems tangible.
Here we wanted to create a space where time exists at its own scale and isn’t influenced by anything from our everyday lives. We wanted modern day people or any kind of people to experience the opposite relation with time, where times scale isn’t influenced by people, no matter what, and the only thing that transforms are the wooden elements and their texture being exposed to all natural elements and having their own lifetime. All the wood used for the structure is from local trees and
its exterior facade is made out of local wooden shingles creating a pleasant relationship with its exterior surroundings. They create an interesting texture of lights and shades and age beautifully by changing their color in time. The round facade makes the shelter have the same aspect and proportions seen from any side of the lake, gaining a neutral expression towards the landscape and acting as a space defining element capturing the viewers attention and curiosity who mainly try to
retreat from their daily city life. We speak of this shelter as an instrument capable of creating a connection between man and pure time, without an imposed scale, only expressions of sudden moments, where your everyday life stands outside the shelter walls and where time relates to you and links you with the architecture you are standing in and its lifetime. Out of 251 international projects we succeded being among the finalists, being in the top 10 projects.
LOCATION: TIMISOARA, TM, ROMANIA YEAR: 2013 STATUS: COMPETITION
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TIMISOARA CITY GATE H LIVING MUSEUM
The concept was inspired by the desire to inform drivers and pasangers from the entrance of the city what “Timisoara” means, what it has to offer and what can be visited. This solution proposes to highlight the main attractions and events of the city wich many times can be hard to reach after entering from the main roads. The porpuse of this project is to introduce drivers and pasangers in this beautiful city’s story in an infant manner. If in the past, the “gate” had the role tu enclose and protect a city, today it can be used as a source of information. The gate - a “digital summary” dedicated for those who enter the city, a rich lesson and presentation of the past, present and future wich describe Timisoara’s glory and succes, inviting the curious ones to explore it. Because of a large number of information that will be desplayed I chose to create a sequence of panels, made out of corten, dividing the information on different important themes. Every theme / subject will be displayed on a different panel, composing a unitary composition through a vertical rhythm, each of them having a different story about my city’s life. The panels are slightely offsetted and rotated, placed at the right distance one from another, in order to be able to see, read, and remember the presented information. My proposal wone the first prize for the “Calea Torontalului” entrance from Timisoara, a multi-cultural city, waiting to be discovered, with great stories to tell.
Concept
Panel rotation
perforated letters
View 1
View 2
digital screens
LOCATION: ARAD, AR, ROMANIA YEAR: 2012 STATUS: COMPETITION
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HIDE & SEEK H LIVING MUSEUM
The principles behind the concept is preserving and emphasizing specific details of traditional wooden houses from Arad region. The house shows only a few details to the exterior and the only ones who benefit of the whole beauty of the house are those who step inside it - the house is “hiding� from the rest of the people who are outside. The proximate exterior becomes interior by attaching modules to the old house and articulated by a transparent roof, the house becomes an exhibit. All the circulations are moved in this area linking all the other functions between them. The entrance in the house is made by keeping the old principle of using a step (up or down). The old porch is extended to the interior space managing functional and metaphorical relations between the two day spaces - exterior and interior. The transfer of powers between the old main living space (the kitchen) to living room (the old sleeping room) is realized by reorientation the fireplace. The version of the house fits with the natural environment, but it is also suitable with more urbanized areas of the villages from the region. This typology is for families with two children who want to live in a rural area or who wish to preserve the typical architecture and to save a traditional house or build a new one based on the same principles, but without compromising the contemporary comfort with generous spaces.
Old house facades & sections
Proposed plans Ground floor (up) Attic (down)
Proposed details
Plant courtyard
Bedroom view
Cherry courtyard
Bathroom Bedroom
Facades
Section C1
Rammed earth exterior walls
Section D1
LOCATION: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA YEAR: 2010 STATUS: COMPETITION
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A SCULPTOR’S HOUSE H LIVING MUSEUM
Bucharest, a city of two million inhabitants, where the public space is staring to disappear more and more every day, and the streets from the city center become occupied by cars. This was the location of a future house and workshop of a famous Romanian sculptor. The first decision was to offer a small part of its property to the street, to activate a public space by creating a small sitting area in front of the house. The house is divided in 3 volumes, creating interesting spaces between them with different degrees of privacy, depending on the space’s purpose. The highest volume is the sculptor’s workshop; it has its own entrance from the street so that visitors may have an easy access to it. It is also related with a semi-private courtyard which is the exterior working place of the sculptor and an area for exhibitions. Its win is that it can be easily opened for the public, without disturbing the privacy of the family. The other 2 volumes are for the family life in relation with a private back yard connected with the living room. All these 3 volumes that compose the house, are articulated in such ways that the interior and exterior space bind perfectly together and form a positive spaces. My project won the 3rd prize of the student national competition CASA, during my second year of faculty.
Street view
Site
Backyard facade & terrace
Main facade
Backyard
Site: street view
Main facade
Ground floor plan
Section private
private
Situation plan
Concept: 3 volumes
public
living dining kitchen
bedrooms workshop
Sahara desert, Morroco
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DA PHOTOGRAPHY H LIVING MUSEUM
Through my photographs I try expressing primordial elements that compose architecture, such as textures, colors, rhythm, materials, lights or shadows. I also take shots of random people when I feel that they are relating in a certain way with architecture, as well as animals that gain a powerful human behavior relating to everyday architectural elements. I also use a method that i like to call “framing the frame”, framing urban or natural landscapes through every day openings such as doors or windows. When I’m traveling, I always carry my camera with me, and when the right moment and oportunity occurs to photograph interesting buildings, urban contexts or life scenes, through my photos they expand and develop into something else that reality shows it to be. Sometimes it can become whatever runs through the viewers mind.
Amsterdam, Holland
Wroclaw, Poland
Berlin, Germany
Madrid, Spain
Zagreb, Croatia
Hermanice, Czech Republic
Alcala de Guadaira, Spain
Wien, Austria
Wroclaw, Poland
Seville, Spain
Cordoba, Spain
Sumita, Romania
Madinat al Zahra, Spain
Seville, Spain Sumita, Romania
Ghiroda, Romania
Prague, Czech Republic
THANK YOU GRACIAS Mulţumesc HVALA ХВАЛА