Vdw_4_vitan by The Answering Machine

PORTFOLIO Alexandra Maria Vitan [Bach.+ Master Arch.]

2017

What is architecture? Architecture is the silence in noisy spaces and the noise in silent ones. Good architecture must lead us to question ourselves.

Personal information Name and surname: Alexandra Maria Vitan Date and place of birth: 21.04.1994, Hateg, RO Telephone: +40763641339 E-mail: alexandra.vitan@gmail.com Languages: Romanian - native Educational background 2017- present Faculty of Architecture, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium 2013 -2017Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Politechnica University, Timisoara 2014-2017 Pedagogical Module 2009-2013 National College “I.C. Bratianu”, Hateg Work experience 2017 june - Architecture intern- Vitamin Architects, Timisoara, Romania [www.vitamina.ro] 2016 July - Architecture intern - Parasite Studio, Timisoara, Romania [www.parasitestudio.com] 2016 October2017 august - Architecture intern - Parasite Studio, Timisoara, Romania 2015-2017- Volunteer teacher- “De-a arhitectura”, Timisoara Architectural competitions Europan 14- Productive Cities- pending Baumit- Rehabilitation of a block of collective housing in Timisoara, 2017 Contest of ideas. The tower of firefighters, Cluj-Napoca, 2017 International Velux Award- Light of tomorrow, 2016 C.A.S.A (Annual Contest of Architecture Students), Cluj- Napoca, 2015

School Prizes and exhibited Work Exhibition of imaginary cities models, “De-a arhitectura”, Timisoara, 2017 Exhibition of restoration proposals for the wooden church of Povergina, 2017 2nd year projects exhibition- Theresia Bastion, Timisoara, 2015 Activity Awards, Architectural design studio 4th year project, Redesigning the faculty of Architecture and City planning, Faculty Committee, 2017 Workshops Sebes 2.0- about lost places, Sebes 2015 LightEdu- social lightscapes, urban acupuncture, Timisoara 2016 Edukube, learning archicad 2014 Publications Article “Teacher or student? Child”, ArtOut Magazine, nb. 56 “Alternative Practices: Research in Art and Architecture, July 2017” 3rd year project selected for publication in school magazine “Student’s trends”, 2017 Sebes 2.0- work of the workshop published in Arhitectura Magazine, nb.6, 2015, “spatii destructurate” Extracuricular activities Handmade by Ale - accessories design- personal studio exhibitions: Fashion Fridays, Zai Apres-Cafe, Timisoara, March 2017 Opera Fashion Fair - invited designer to the charitable event with the purpose to raise funds for the Infectious Deseases Section of the Victor Babes Hospital, Timisoara, July 2017 Volunteer- BETA, Biennale of Architecture Timisoara, 2016 [ http://betacity.eu ] http://betacit Organizer- C.A.S.A (Annual Contest of Architecture Students), Timisoara, 2016 [https://concursan2.wordpress.com] Organizer- “Joia culturala”, cultural weekly event for architecture students, 2015 Volunteer teacher- “De-a arhitectura”, 2015-2017 [www.de-a-arhitectura.ro] Computer skills Advanced: Archicad, Photoshop, Microsoft Office Intermediate: Rhinoceros, InDesign, Illustrator Beginner: Cinema 4d, Artlantis, Autocad, Sketch-up Other skills Hand draw, leadership, teamwork, analyzing data, innovative, attention to details. Hobbies Skiing, traveling and descovering, handmade design, reading, learning computer programs, scuba diving.

Project

Domain Academic

Redesigning the faculty of Architecture and City planning, Timisoara

Academic

Mixed-use: Housing+Industry

Academic+ Cohousing in Cluj-Napoca Competition Competition International Velux Award: “The Echo of Light in Community Life” Competition Contest of ideas. Tower of the fire- fighters, Cluj-Napoca Competition BAUMIT: Rehabilitation of a block of collective housing buildings, Timisoara Workshop

Light EDU

Volunteer

C.A.S.A (Annual Contest of Architecture Students) - organizer

Volunteer

“De-a arhitectura” - teacher

Hobby

Handmade by Ale - part time designer

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara

2016/2017 Academic project Mentors: Danciu Mihai Demetrescu Bogdan Simionescu Oana Team: Alexandra Vitan Alexandra Stan Ioana Stan

CREATIVITY is the most important human resource, but insufficiently exploited. The period we are living now is called “digital era”, “informational era”, “the economy of knowledge”, but actually the engine of development of this new era is not technology but shared creativity. The individual becomes important as unique creative resource, but only in RELATION WITH THE OTHERS he/she can exploit his/hers maximum potential, such that the result becomes much more than a sum of the separated parts. If in the past the socio-economic unit of organization the society was the farm (agricultural era) or the industrial corporation (industrial era), in the present this unit is represented by CITIES/COMUNITIES (creative industries). It is wrong to consider that creativity is only used in the field of arts. It is not an exclusivist resource, but it is part of each individual, so its application can be found in different areas, such as education, health, management, business, research and technology, etc. Considering the global direction of this economic sector to the creative industries in the actual context of the city of Timisoara as future European cultural Capital we considered that the purpose of the entire project is to sustain this request by creating a link between the fields mentioned above

both at the educational level and at the professional level. Our vision is to establish relationships on three different layers. FACULTY-CITY Transforming the faculty in a landmark for the city, joining the relationship community-education-profession and the access to culture by establishing relationships with the institutions of the profession (OAR), education (ARACIS) and with the cultur al institutions of the city or of the country. FACULTY-CAMPUS In order to propose a relationship between the professions, but also between profession and education, there is a need for a relationship at the educational level first. This thing can be translated as a link between all the faculties. So, following the al ready existing zoning of the faculties we propose to generate some urban attractors adjacent to major pedestrian routes from which to then distribute minor pedestrian routes within the respective lot. FACULTY-STUDENT We propose a change of methodolo-

gy which can also reflect in the designing of the space and its functional complementarity. So, we want to move from a traditional to an alternative system of education, relying more on a self-taught type of education and not on an indoctrination type.

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and city planning, Timisoara | Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

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Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Faculty-city

Perception- City

Perception- Campus

Perception- Faculty The last two floors of the building represent a visual connection with the central part of the city, where the cultural and professional institutions are concentrated. We want to create a number of non-functional buildings, cultural and professional establishments or urban public spaces to strengthen the education-community-profession relationship. A first point of interest is the Bega river bank area.

M r t

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Faculty-campus

Main access: It is done through the basement, for a better relationship with the sidewalk, from the street with heavy traffic.

Secondary access: adjacent to a major pedestrian flow is thus primarily intended for students on campus. It also has the role to integrate the disadvantaged nearby community.

Complementary activities to the campus-based education process: film screenings, cultural events, it is possible the expanding of the interior workshops to the outdoors, interaction places, etc.

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Faculty-student

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Ground floor

Intermmediate space

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Architectural design studio space

Redesigning the faculty of architecture and town planning, Timisoara| Architectural design studio | 2016/2017

Upper floor [expo+work]

Mixed-use: housing +industry | Architectural design studio | one week project | 2017

Mixed-use: housing+industry

2017 Academic project: one week project

Mixing industry with housing comes as a new concept ready to change the rules of the game in which we all are acting in daily life. Having the site in a semi-industrial area and considering all the actual circumstances, like reduced equipment and/or production space as a consequence of digitalization, we must question ourselves if industry could come back to the inner city. A factory is a closed entity inside a city, usually made of metallic materials. A house also tends to close itself, like industry, in order to keep its privacy. Thus, the concept comes on the one hand as a result of combining these two kinds of architectural programs, which apparently follow the same principles. The green inner yard is the core of the industry, but also the core of the housing part. In this way, industry and housing are perfectly overlaid, realizing a strong link on the vertical. On the other hand, the concept is based on the fact that industry is becoming smaller, having much more clean spaces, without pollution. So, this new type of function starts to develop into a function that can easily interact with people. Industry 4.0 represents the industry in which the human relationships become very important, fact that leads to an integration of expo and experimental spaces, workshops etc. in the industrial space.

Mixed-use: housing +industry | Architectural design studio | one week project | 2017

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Mixed-use: housing +industry | Architectural design studio | one week project | 2017

Cohousing in Cluj-Napoca | Architectural design studio+Contest entry | 2014/2015

Cohousing in Cluj-Napoca

2014/2015 Academic project Contest entry: Annual contest for second year architecture students, Romania (C.A.S.A) Mentors: Rupacici Oana Toma Claudiu Team: Alexandra Maria Vitan Anda Todoran

Following a thorough analysis of both the city and the design task, two words stood out: community and communication. Having visited the city for a few times, the bond between the city and its people times could be well observed: each and every public square was full of people either taking a walk, cycling or enjoying themselves in a coffee shop; the city was offering them the place and space to do it and in return it received life and dynamism. The spirit of place is what modeled the entire process of creation in this project. The new community tries to keep and emphasize the social character of the city by creating means of communication between the houses while not neglecting their need for privacy. Consequently, Consequentl each house presents itself as a seed embraced by a carefully perforated coat which connects the core to the outside. This is how a very special-poetic even- place takes life: the covered garden

The covered garden is both a transitional and an independent space, offering not only public-open places

but also private ones: this is where private meets semipublic, where inside meets outside.

Cohousing in Cluj-Napoca | Architectural design studio+Contest entry | 2014/2015

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Cohousing in Cluj-Napoca | Architectural design studio+Contest entry | 2014/2015

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International Velux Award | Contest entry | 2015/2016

The echo of light in community life

2015/2016 Contest entry: International Velux Award Mentors: Toma Claudiu Team: Alexandra Maria Vitan Alexandra Stan Ioana Maria Stan Ruxandra Negrut Link: http://iva.velux.com/projects/2016 [title: The echo of light in community life]

At the time being, there are in Romania many isolated villages, situated far away from the main urban settlements, which can be found everywhere throughout the country. They are underdeveloped both economic and in terms of civilization standards, as they lack electrified installation. Isolation generates multiple problems such as depopulation of villages, the absence of a proper education and access to information. Our solution proposes to bring back the essential of the traditional life in terms of spiritual living in perfect resonance with the universe. In our traditional space the only steady reality has always been the peasant. The Romanian word for peasant is “țăran”, a word that loses its meaning when being translated. As for the way the space can be organized, there are two main categories: a layered, organic and oriented one - the traditional space- and a boundless one that has no clear references - the modern space. In the traditional one the space is defined by the relationship between the horizontal plane of the earth and the sky hemisphere. The world according to the Romanian peasant is divided between these dimensions of the horizon. The relationships between the villagers and their own spaces is

fined by the limits of space, orientation, direction and light. They used light as agricultural guidelines, taking different reference points such as the position of their own shadow, landmarks shadow and the position of the sun in the sky. All the traditional space organizations, regardless of how they are structured, have in common the ability to organize motion landmarks, to classify and organize the space in different geographical, social and symbolic areas. For contemporary architect to relate and interpret these environment coordinates can sometimes acquire symbolic and poetic value, but for the traditional man these belonged to their natural way of living. In our project we chose as reference a particular isolated village, Scărișoara, Caraș-Severin. Its name “Scărișoara” which comes from the word “stair” is strongly related to the location, revealing the way it can be accessed, by a hidden forty years old stair which is leaning against the mountain’s cliffs.This village is by definition a traditional layered space, but its qualities have degraded over time. The center who was gathering the community by the sound of the church’s bell disappeared once with the depopulation of these villages. After visiting and studying the area we decided to try to reunify the com-

mmunity by recreating the space that used to link people. We chose the school as the main point of space organization, for it already is a place that forms a small community by gathering the school children, but also it is the only link to the exterior world. In addition it is situated in a strategic place as it can easily be seen from distance. This center is the point where the vertical dimension (axis mundi) unifies the space and time allowing the perpetual change between the earth and the celestial sphere. After the connection with the universe was made by the verticality the individual is more open to create other connections on earth, thus the community is revived. The path between the center and the isolated houses already exists, but the landmarks along it are only points that stratify the space and which during the nighttime become completely imperceptible. We tried to highlight these places by giving them a new meaning as light landmarks along the path. Firstly, the existent gate is transformed from a simple delimitation to a reference point that visually and psychologically unifies the path. Secondly, the benches appear as surprises giving you a safety feeling, but also they reveal you some of the center’s qualities.

International Velux Award | Contest entry | 2015/2016

I.5 “Child, put your hands on my knees. I think that eternity was born in the village. Here every thought is slow-paced, and the heart throbs at a slower rate, as if it beats not in your breast, but deep down somewhere in earth’s chest.” Lucian Blaga - Romanian poet The village soul

International Velux Award | Contest entry | 2015/2016

beginnings

ﬁre’s hearth

whitin the village limits

city

isolated village

present

Landmark-bench: Place for reﬆ. Orientation. Socialization. Nature framing.

calling light

signalization to the urban world

We use light as a tool to create a connection between the urban world and the villages, but also to connect the isolated houses from villages close to each other. In the ﬁrﬆ case the light of the center becomes the point of signalization to the nearby urban settlement. In the second case the point of signalization is the gate and its light intensity increases according to the number of people gathered in the center. The gate’s light can be seen from the isolated houses but the one coming from the bench landmark becomes noticeable only when you are on your way to the center.

response Detail – superior part of the main column Device that transmits signals from the movement sensor, also Wi-ﬁ. Solar cell that accumulates solar energy and ﬆores it Solar cell that cedes the ﬆored energy as light Layer of sensors that detect the movement around the main column

Landmark-gate: Not a limit, but a point that visually and psychological unify the path. Villagers gathering- calling the others by light

Villager seeing the calling light

Axis mundi. Community center

Day

The proposed community center reinterprets the layered organization of the traditional village space. The main column becomes both the “axis mundi” of the proposal and of the village. It orders the space around it in three different zones, one dedicated to the main activities, the middle one where the sitting places are and the village area.

During the day, the center point of the proposal remains a transparent structure, which does not disturb the natural and social environment of the village. While the adults are busy with the agricultural labor, this space becomes the playground of the school children, and the shadows from the net animate the playful atmosphere.

International Velux Award | Contest entry | 2015/2016

gathering zone sitting zone village

Daytime: Kids. School playground. Learn and education. Light and shadow. Detail of one glowing capsule

Night- ﬆarry sky

At night, when the sky is clear and the stars visible, the glowing cells are inactive, leaving the starry sky visible. In this case, the main column is Translucent capsule that accumulates light and the most important light source, gathering the transfers it to the photovoltaic cells people around it, while maintaining a direct relationship with the sky, through the transparent net.

Photovoltaic cells layer and a ring that is atmospheric pressure sensitive

Nighttime: Reeﬆablish the community. Gathering place. Information access. Talk. Sit. Night- cloudy At night, when the sky is cloudy and the stars are not visible, the ring that is sensitive to the atmospheric pressure, activates the glowing cells, to light up the net. In this way, the net recreates the starry night, and besides predicting a rainy day, it creates a protected, poetic atmosphere for the market place.

Contest of ideas. Tower of the fire-fighters, Cluj-Napoca | Contest | 2017

Contest of ideas. Tower of the fire-fighters, Cluj-Napoca

2017 Contest Collaboration with Parasite Studio, Timisoara Link: https://www.facebook.com/parasitestudio/

What if the stair would be chosen as theme of the project? What if the stair would become a collection of amazing places, which would poetically come one after another, in a desperate need of light in order to recreate a lost space, a lost age? What if this stair wouldn’t be an infinite form such as Penrose’s stair, but it would have an end, and at its end there would not be the darkness of Marcin Bialas’s imagination, but it would be a final place, a dematerialization in light of the old tower which gazes over the entire city, under the protection of the lost bell? What if the stair would become a project itself? The project could in fact be the new promised age of the tower, because the existing one cannot be the last one, the stair calls for it to be continued, and this promise of continuation is the only valid approach.

Contest of ideas. Tower of the fire-fighters, Cluj-Napoca | Contest | 2017

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Contest of ideas. Tower of the fire-fighters, Cluj-Napoca | Contest | 2017

Ground floor

5th floor

Tower floor

Contest of ideas. Tower of the fire-fighters, Cluj-Napoca | Contest | 2017

BAUMIT: Rehabilitation of a block of collective housing buildings, Timisoara | Contest entry | 2017

BAUMIT. Rehabilitation of a block of collective housing buildings, Timisoara

2017 Contest entry Mentor: Bocan Catalina Bocan Dragos Team: Alexandra Maria Vitan Alexandra Stan Alexandru Maduta Ioana Maria Stan Mihai Ardelean Razvan Petcu

BAUMIT: Rehabilitation of a block of collective housing buildings, Timisoara | Contest entry | 2017

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BAUMIT: Rehabilitation of a block of collective housing buildings, Timisoara | Contest entry | 2017

Light Edu | Workshop | 2016

Light Edu 2016 Role: Team member Urban acupuncture A light installation to re-activate an unused pedestrian square in Timisoara â&#x20AC;&#x153;A weed will root into the smallest crack in the asphalt and eventually break the city. Urban acupuncture is the weed and the acupuncture point in the crackâ&#x20AC;? M arco Casagrande Web : https://issuu.com/daylighting/docs/urban_acupuncture_-_alexandra_maier

Light Edu | Workshop | 2016

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C.A.S.A | Volunteer | 2016

C.A.S.A (Annual contest for architecture students) 2015/2016 Role: Organizer Once, we thought how provocative architecture contests can be and yet, how little time we have for anything else other than school. Still, how awesome it would be to have a contest based on workshop project, common for more faculties, maybe even all of those around the country. It seemed to be an impossible dream, but in July 2009 a group of students met, representing the 6 students’ organizations of the 6 architecture faculties in Romania and they decided to try to convince their teachers to accept the challenge. The idea was too good in order to fail, so here we are now, at the 7th edition of a project that we come to enjoy more and more: The Annual Competition for Architecture Students (“Concursul Anual al Studentilor Arhitecti”) International jury 2015/2016 Arh. Oana Bogdan, arh. Serban Sturza, arh. Angela Kovacs, arh. Monica Pacheco, arh. Robert Neumayr Web : https://concursan2.wordpress.com/

C.A.S.A | Volunteer | 2016

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De-a arhitectura | Volunteer | 2015-20016/ 2016-2017

De-a arhitectura 2015/2016 2016/2017 Role: Volunteer teacher â&#x20AC;&#x153;De-a arhitecturaâ&#x20AC;? is a national project whose purpose is to introduce architecture in school. Within this project I activated as a volunteer since 2015 teaching architecture 1-2 hours/week at a school in Timisoara, for 4th grade children. Story publication: http://artout.ro/reviste/artout56.html Program site : http://www.de-a-arhitectura.ro/

De-a arhitectura | Volunteer | 2015/ 2016, 2016-2017

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