Daniela Calciu

"The editorial project is based on the results and subsequent actions of the essay contest of urban visions The Would-be City – Galaţi 2050 Episode, organised by the Plusminus association in 2011. The finalists’ ideas and action plans are completed with contributions by guest researchers, addressing some crucial questions raised by referring to the recent past: is there a heritage value of buildings from the Communist era? How do they fit in the new approaches? To what extent, what new methods could be defined through report¬ing to imagination and creativity? Can we envision a city of the future? Does utopia still make sense?
The volume is intended as a tool for lobbying for the City, to initiate a debate among professionals, local administrations and the public on a number of subjects, such as: collisions and overlapping of postmodern (global) think¬ing and post-communist (local) realities; grassroots initiatives in Romanian contemporary cities; the Communist built fund, urban space, urban image, waterfront, small generative inserts, radical changes within the city, based on international models and new technologies; new creativity based work methods and approaches to urban issues.

Scientific consultant Ciprian Mihali. Texts by Irina Băncescu, Sabin Borș, Tiberiu Bucșa, Daniela Calciu, Victor Cilincă, Ioana + Alexandru Cristian, Dan Dinoiu, Augustin Ioan, Daniel Kiss, Andra Jurgiu, Istvan Pásztor, Ina Stoian, Irina Tulbure, Matei David + Lucian Sandu-Milea, Alexandru Fleseriu + Eszter Péter, Laura Panait + Silviu Medeșan, Sabin Purice + Adina Segal, Oana Simionescu + Alexandru Cozma, Alex Axinte + Alec Bălăşescu + Cristi Borcan + Doru Ruşti + Ana Vlad + Adi Voicu. Translation Cosmina Diaconeasa + Daniela Calciu. Adaptation Daniela Calciu + Cosmina Diaconeasa. Graphic Design Alice Stoicescu. Illustrations Lucian Sandu-Milea. Our thanks to Luminița Stoian, Violeta Picioruș, Marius Mitran, Mirela Nițu, Raluca Primejdie, Bogdan Dumitrache, Uta Schneider, Edmund Wee, Andrei Grigore, Sergiu Porumboiu + Nicoleta Capetiș

Editorial project financed by the Administration of Romanian Cultural Fond and the Chamber of Romanian Architects, from the Architecture Stamp."

This paper traces the undesirability of the Obchodný dom Prior (Prior department stores) in Slovakia and explores the issues at hand in preserving this unwanted Modernist heritage, a closely-knit weave of aesthetics, national identity, historical narratives and economics. Hailed among the defining architectural projects of socialist Modernism, the Prior department stores are characterized as pure, honest and concise examples of modern Slovak architecture, reflecting the traditions of regional materials and methods as well as that of interwar functionalism, which were applied to modern prefabrication methods. Collectively they represent the dichotomy of socialist Modernism, in that they are both utterly quotidian and completely remarkable, elucidating the complex reality of the difficult architectural heritage of Eastern Modernism. The heart of the argument suggests that despite these colossal architectural specimens encapsulating four decades of socialist rule, their purpose as an ideological apparatus has been largely reduced and oversimplified. That overshadows the role of the Prior as an integral component of socialist consumption practices, from which Slovakia emerged as a mass consumer society, as well as their immense collective contribution to Slovak architectural development, recognized as progressive in design and technology. Presently, their legacy remains entangled in difficult memories and complex histories and they face enduring contest against their existence through economically driven reconstruction, demolition and insensitive refurbishment. It is only the recognition of the depth of their contribution to modern architectural culture that might offer recourse for their legacy.

Abstracts - ICAR 2012. ICAR 2012 International Conference on Architectural Research: (re)writing history. Book · May 2012 Edition: 1, Publisher: Editura Universitară „Ion Mincu” Bucureşti, Beatrice-Gabriela Jöger, Andra Panait, Editor: UAUIM, Beatrice-Gabriela Jöger, Andra Panait, Marina Mihaila, Daniel Comşa, ISBN: 978-606-638-022-5 Editura Universitară „Ion Mincu” Bucureşti, Beatrice-Gabriela Jöger, Andra Panait authors: Beatrice-Gabriela Jöger, Andra Panait, Marina Mihaila, Daniel Comşa, Adham Abulnour, Ileana Apostol, Maria Boştenaru Dan, Dragoş Horia Buhociu, João Paulo Cardielos, Stefania Chirico, Laura Vivola, Luigi Chirone, Cristina Constantinescu, Mihaela Hărmănescu, Ilinca Constantinescu, Cerasella Craciun, Cristina Enache, Giuseppe Gangemi, Cristina Olga Gociman, Sever Georgescu, Tiberiu Florescu, Artan Hysa, Bob Jarvis, Valbona Koçi, Andrei Eugen Lakatos, Vera Marin, Ana Opriş, Gabriel Pascariu, Simona Pascariu, Alexandru-Ionut Petrişor, Andreea Popa, Alexandru Calcating...

The journal studies in History and Theory of Architecture, published by the Department of Architectural History & Theory and Heritage Conservation at "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, Romania,
invites submissions for the 2018 issue

Politics
TOO MUCH OR NOT ENOUGH

Urbanity (Urbanität) has played a significant role in the definition of urban design over the past few decades, in Germany as well as in Western Europe, in general. Triggered by Edgar Salin's analysis of the " cities without urbanity " at the eleventh annual meeting of the Association of German Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) in Augsburg in 1960, the concept has accompanied the postmodern renaissance of the traditional city as the setting of the contract for a new life and its corresponding culture. After being employed as the catchword of the failed attempt to plan " urbanity through density " in the newly built ensembles, the word became part of politics, and part of the competition between cities, based on the image of the crowded street, packed with activities, of the 19 th century. The 1990s were still governed by these attempts to revive the traditional urbanity, albeit more and more criticized as devoid festivism. However, the industrial decline and the complex changes prompted by the 1989 revolutions turned the attention towards the social and spatial issues outside the historical centers, leading the way to two core ideas that have influenced the urban theories of the new millennium: (1) that the representation of urbanity as a purified image of the pre-industrial times is actually the trap of a nostalgia which has very little to do with the current urban phenomena; and (2) that the new urbanity has to be searched in the ruins of the industrial and the functionalist urbanism, in the informal, alternative, non-conventional territories of the sprawl. One of the landmarks of this interpretative and operative turn within urban design is undoubtedly Thomas Sieverts' book Zwischenstadt, literally the city in-between, written in 1995-1996 and published for the first time in 1997. 1 This anti-conservative approach to urbanity seeks to demonstrate that the in-betweenness (between the historical centers and the unlimited land, between the inhabited places and the non-places of mobility, or between the temporality of local economy and the dependency of the global market) is not the source of all evil, but rather the celebration of the possible, uncertain and inciting. Based on his experience as one of the directors of the International Building Exhibition IBA Emscher Park between 1989 and 1994, Sieverts argues against the perpetuation of traditional images of sociability and of spatiality, built upon dualities such as city-territory, nature-culture, etc. The Zwischenstadt does not exist in opposition to another form of ecumene, but it emerges from its own spacing and temporizations, from the variance of its comprising elements. Thus, his examination of the Zwischenstadt begins with the reexamination of some core concepts like urbanity, centrality, density, diversity, and ecology. Translated into French, English (one in the UK and another one in the US), Japanese, and recently into Spanish, the book is still highly relevant today, inviting us to cherish the casual, and teaching us how to see and make sense of the new urban dynamics. Moreover, Sieverts' capacity to capture the spirit of change has been highly valuable to the latest editions of Europan Europe, 1 Thomas Sieverts, Zwischenstadt, zwischen Ort und Welt, Raum und Zeit, Stadt und Land (Wiesbaden: Vieweg +Teubner Verlag, 1997).

The journal studies in History and Theory of Architecture, published by the Department of Architectural History & Theory and Heritage Conservation at «Ion Mincu» University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, Romania, invites submissions for the 2016 issue. We envisage this 4th issue of sITA as an opportunity to bring the " margins " in the center of the architectural debate. We believe that approaching their architecture, delving into local circumstances, rationale, mechanisms of configuration and historiography could fruitfully annotate the grand architectural narratives.

The journal studies in History and Theory of Architecture, published by the Department of Architectural History & Theory and Heritage Conservation at ‘Ion Mincu’ University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, Romania, invites submissions for the 2015 issue.

Piaţa volantă de legume şi fructe este una din funcţiunile urbane care fac posibilă aducerea în discuţie a termenului de convivialitate. Pentru noile proiecte urbane de recompunere a habitatului urban, această formă de ocupare temporară, dar periodică, a spaţiului public este nu numai o modalitate de populare a spaţiilor abandonate, dar mai ales un mijloc de aducere împreună a locuitorilor, de dinamizare a vieţii urbane. Articolul extrage din modelul francez cîteva dintre aspectele care constituie miza acestui tip de intervenţie soft în spaţiul urban.

Pornind de la definirea noţiunii de intervenţie minimală în formularea peisagistului francez Bernard Lassus, textul exemplifică o anume atitudine proiectuală, care porneşte de la premisa că proiectul este deja înscris în sit, posibil de activat prin mijloace minime, folosind aproape-nimicul („le presque-rien”) şi capabil să redea spaţiul către utilizare. Pentru unele situaţii urbane, scenariul marilor intervenţii este mai puţin pertinent decît căutarea unui răspuns la întrebarea cum poate fi schimbat peisajul, fără ca situl să sufere modificări fizice majore?

Aflate la limita dintre – şi îmbinînd poate cel mai bine – practica şi teoria despre oraş şi arhitectură, concursurile sunt un domeniu de cercetare cu un potenţial imens de îmbogăţire a discuţiilor pe marginea unor noţiuni. Textul se va referi numai la cîteva dintre concursurile din România ultimilor 20 de ani. Ce concepţie a spaţiului public este angajată în formularea temei – program şi în ce măsură este ea completată, pusă în discuţie sau chiar contrazisă de răspunsurile concurenţilor, în general, şi ale cîştigătorilor, în special?

Despite the foreigners’ appreciations for the bizarre complexity of Bucharest, its structures are continuously being threatened by a systemic ignorance and indifference of the authorities towards urban heritage, and of their lack of communication with citizens in decision making. To some extent, this mind-set is also shared by the inhabitants, whose awareness of the value of urban heritage has been biased by communist slogans and by the poor conditions of these buildings and places.
Reaching out to the inhabitants is especially necessary in a poorly understood city, with a rather unknown and neglected history, and with no real care towards its structures. At the same time, architects (still) have to reinvent themselves and their practice, to better face the forces of the post-Communist urban upheavals. This context has lead to an increasing number of architects concerned with developing knowledge and using it to raise awareness of the matters of the city, and to promote grassroots initiatives of urban engagement and education. The paper will (1) explore the rise of the activist architect and their relationship to the other activist groups, (2) provide some insight into this mode of action within the Romanian urban context (based on a personal experience within two such groups, over the last seven years), and (3) discuss the effectiveness of this professional strategy for promoting public participation and knowledge-based urban policies and tactics.
Keywords: civil society, post-communism, activist architect, participatory democracy

Changing our lives in our cities starts with the way we look at them, continues with how we understand and appreciate them, and is rounded off by our individual contributions to their development. The architect can be the mere activator of all of the above. But how successful have we been so far in post-communist Romania?

Boeriu, Radu (U.A.U.I.M. Bucharest),
Calciu, Daniela (l’E.N.S.A.Paris La Villette),
Govaerts, Caroline (U Ghent),
Vandevelde, Jessica S.P. (U Ghent).
Part of the Jokerweek Revisited_Scenario 2007. Labo_S of Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Ghent University