on Regenerative Architectural Heritage, Systemic Urban Development & more Meaningful Futures

I am an Architect , specialised in the Conservation of the Architectural Heritage , working as a Technical Expert and Advisor for Living Future Europe [LFE].

For more than a year, I have been collaborating with the New European Bauhaus [NEB] team from the European Commission on behalf of LFE - a NEB partner, and independently, as external evaluator. Also, in October, 2022, I have joined the team of one the firsts NEB based Horizon Europe projects as a Technical Expert in urban renovation.

I am currently based in Amsterdam , having previously worked and lived in Paris, Brussels and London, and gathering a long experience as Cultural Manager in Romania, where, since 2006, I have been developing structured methods of bottom-up urban analysis aiming for the reactivation of the architectural heritage.

As an Architect for the Belgian Architecture Office ORIGIN - Architecture & Engineering’ specialised in the restoration of historical monuments, in 2018, I had the opportunity to work on a multitude of projects, tackling various philosophies of interventions, contextual problematics, scales of intervention, and development phases. This practical experience was part of my formal education in France, for the DSA post - master at ENSA Paris - Belleville. It also concluded a formative path that began in 2008 with my work experience as a junior architect at the Romanian - American Architecture Office, ‘Lauster & Radu’, followed by an internship in 2011 at ‘LAN Architecture’ in Paris. In 2020, I co-founded an architecture office in Bucharest, ALA Studio, in association with two other female colleagues.

As a Project Coordinator for the Rhabillage Association , between 2018 - 2019, I developed a multi-criteria urban analysis methodology for strategic local development based on cross-sectoral cooperation, ‘EDRAH - Economic Development in Relation to the Architectural Heritage’ , which was tested for the first time in Giurgiu [Ro] with the support of the Romanian Order of Architects and the Municipality of Giurgiu. A group of 18 international young heritage professionals and researchers, with interdisciplinary educational background documented the local heritage values and based on the on-site experience developed a regulation plan for the historical street connecting the city center to the main train station. This experience evolved from a volunteer based initiative that I launched in 2006 as a young Architecture student in Bucharest, the ‘Mourning Houses’ project and from the work on the concept book ‘RePAD. Rehabilitation_Patrimony Architecture Development’, that I have published in 2013.

Every now and then, I do independent research, such as ‘Bucharest, the little Paris?’ , that began in 2010 as a comparative urban analysis through photographic techniques and that later became a photography exhibition [2014], and an awarded scientific paper [2017]; or, the more recent challenge, ‘The theatres of Fellner & Helmer.

Subtle reflections on local specificities and identitary values’ , a project supported by the Austrian Embassy in Romania that started in 2020 and it is about to step into the spotlight in the later part of 2023 with a traveling exhibition and multi-media content on a dedicated platform.

From the volunteer based project in Bucharest, The Mourning Houses [2006] to the EU funded cross-sectoral international cooperation between more than 30 partners in 7 countries aiming for the sustainable urban rehabilitation of 7 lighthouse projects expected to be operative by 2025, it has always been a path for working on regenerating urban spaces and in an intercultural environment, which now comes in-line with this New European Bauhaus movement that I am so honoured, proud and grateful to be part of.