Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/1/

Authors: Emanuele Morezzi

The second edition of the “Architecture Experience” conference, themed “Innovation within Heritage,” explores the intricate relationship between experience and innovation in the context of architectural heritage. This keynote reflects on how experience, interpreted as knowledge, fosters innovation by drawing lessons from historical precedents, pattern recognition, and past failures, exemplified through case studies suchas adaptive reuse projects, dissonant heritage, and restoration practices. However, experience can also constrain creativity, reinforcing traditionalnorms and risk aversion. By balancing experience with fresh perspectives,innovation becomes a dynamic process that sustains heritage conservationwhile addressing contemporary challenges. Key themes include authenticity, adaptive reuse, community participation, and cultural sustainability,emphasizing the role of interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborative efforts. The conference fosters a deeper understanding of how experience andinnovation intersect, offering a platform to envision new strategies forpreserving cultural heritage while ensuring its relevance for the future.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp16-19.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/2/

Authors: Codruța Iana-Mihail

Complex multifactorial analysis, the acronym C.M.A., is one of the scientific research methods used precisely because of its versatility in many fields. This is an adaptation and extrapolation, set up by me, of two previous research methods: general morphological analysis by Fritz Zwiky, a well-known astrophysicist, and morphological analysis by Bernard Duprat, a professor at Lyon Architecture University. Its versatility comes from the combination of several research methods, starting from the comparative specimen analysis (used in fields such as biology, zoology but also archaeology) up to complex mathematical models, including Boolean matrices (used predominantly in economic fields, of financial-banking analysis or astronomy). The novelty of the work consists in the applica-tion of C.M.A. in the theory and study of architecture. C.M.A. results are very precise because they use mathematical methods, and detailed and complex theories can be developed in any theoretical field in architecture based on them.

Multifactorial aspects and structure allow hypotheses from all fields of ac-tivity. For example, in the analysis of an architectural style, hypotheses can come from related subjects like history, theory, materials etc., but also dif-ferent fields, such as sociology, psychology, medicine and so on. This very important aspect is what gives the novelty and complexity of the study.

At any stage of the C.M.A. research we would stop, the results can be remarkable, from the preparation of the specimen collection, to the vali-dated hypotheses or the relationships between them for the most precise conclusions.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp20-25.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/3/

Authors: Luis Bosch-Roig, Alessandro Merlo

This article presents the results of the teaching collaboration between the 2nd level University Master’s in Architectural Heritage Preser-vation of the UPV and the 2nd level University Master’s in Enhancement of Cultural Heritage of UNIFI during the academic year 2023-24. The collabo-ration consisted of carrying out a conservation project for the Amphithea-tre of Arezzo so that the UPV students could develop the intervention part, and the UNIFI students would be in charge of the valorisation part of the monument. The complex of the Roman Amphitheatre of Arezzo, whose elements are characterised by an Outstanding Universal Value [1], presents a series of circumstances that make it particularly interesting from different points of view: the conservation of the ruins, the relationship with the monastery built on its remains, or its concealment in a block of the urban fabric of the city, are some of the aspects that are proposed to be resolved in the projects developed. The results show a variety of solutions of great interest that nourish the potential of both institutions and highlight the value of this type of international teaching collaboration.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp26-31.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/4/

Authors: Oreste Lubrano

The essay intends to address the theme of interdisciplinarity and the “intersection” of knowledge by examining a competition and research experience involving the Acropolis of Athens. The unequivocal contribution that the Greek experience makes to the world of architec-tural forms can be described in the balanced link that holds together the propensity for “convexity” – manifested by the properly architectural dimension found in the “world above” and here restored by the sculptural modelling of volumes in space – with the most ancient forms of the earth – the “world below” – that is, the “concave” dimension excavated and carved in solid matter, which is proposed as nourishment for architecture that in turn holds the aspirations of human life. But when an architecture loses its function, its form and even its material, when stasis crystallises what re-mains by regressing architecture into archaeology, how can man rediscover in that inert matter the human reasons and values still intimately belonging to our time? The Call of the Piranesi Prix de Rome e d’Athènes, organised by the Accademia Adrianea di Architettura e Archeologia onlus in 2022, is taken as an opportunity to reflect on possible ways to put these ancient rela-tionships back into tension, to hold archaeology and nature together again through the addition of a new formal configuration that aspires to cele-brate, in the past as now, the myth and beauty of this extraordinary place.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp32-35.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/5/

Authors: Adriano Magliocco, Paola Sabbion

The need to decarbonize the European construction sector clashes with a building stock in many cities dating back a few centuries, with variable energy performance. This raises the question of how much to focus on embodied carbon, the choice of materials, or operational carbon, hence energy efficiency. The Italian National Energy and Climate Change Plan proposes the progressive electrification of the building sector as the primary decarbonization measure, replacing heating systems with heat pumps. This prediction raises several questions. Non-monumental historic buildings are often subjected to landscape restrictions or present typological and decorative characteristics that do not allow insulation interventions, such as reducing energy consumption significantly and, therefore, related CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the need to replace and centralize the systems raises the problem of positioning the external units and heat distri-bution. The paper defines issues and opportunities through considerations and graphical schemes.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp36-39.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/6/

Authors: Silvia Berselli

The architect Franca Stagi (Modena, 1937-2008) collaborated for more than twenty years with Cesare Leonardi producing residential and public projects and successful industrial design objects. After the division of the studio in 1983, Stagi becomes the reference architect for Modena and she dedicates herself to the recovery and re-functionalization of the large historical buildings of the city center, to the design of greenery, to urban plans and to the construction of new places for the community. In the historic center of Modena, one can remember the projects for the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, one of Stagi’s main clients, such as the restoration of Foro Boario, the cattle market (1989-2002) which became the seat of the Faculty of Economics, the reuse of the Sant’Eufemia convent (1994-1995) intended for the humanities faculties, and the recovery of the extensive San Paolo and San Geminiano cloisters (2005-07), which today houses the Faculty of Law, a library, restaurants, a kindergarden and a music school. The quality, quantity and size of her works produced an ongoing project in synergy with associations, citizens, and with local authorities, in particular with the first female mayor of the city, Alfonsina Rinaldi.

The paper highlights the method adopted by Stagi when operating inside the large container buildings that represented the history of Modena, capital of the small but glorious Duchy of Este. After a careful restoration, which tells the story of the building at different historical thresholds, the new functions are built inside the monument as independent boxes, in order to establish a respectful dialogue between past and present.

The article aims to reconstruct the precious vision that Franca Stagi had for the city and its territory, expressed through structural projects punctuated by specific interventions designed in detail, without ever losing an overall view. This vision represents at the same time a geographical and historical perspective, which takes into account the peculiarities of a place and its past, without giving up on transforming it in order to give it a future.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp40-43.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/7/

Authors: Parastou Mollahosseinali, Seyedamirhossein Nourbakhsh

Archaeological sites serve as dynamic spaces that narrate stories across time, using their fragmented structures to reveal hidden histories and evoke lost environments. These ruins, far from being static remnants, invite reinterpretation and imaginative engagement. By exploring their spatial arrangements, we can uncover layers of architectural composition that offer insights into both their historical form and their current fragmented state. This dual perspective allows for reconstructions that envision their past completeness and an appreciation of their present condition as cultural artifacts.

Ruins, in their incompleteness, become catalysts for imagination, bridging the tangible and intangible aspects of history. The act of reconstructing spaces from fragments is inherently selective and interpretive, requiring deliberate choices that shape how these sites are perceived and experienced. This process transforms ruins into legible compositions that com-municate a coherent narrative, blending past and present into an evolving dialogue. By reimagining these spaces, architects and designers can work on heritage while creating immersive experiences that transcend temporal boundaries, offering a richer understanding of history and its connection to contemporary design.

This paper investigates how architectural composition defines the spatiality of archaeological parks, focusing on the interplay between archaeology and architecture. It draws on a didactic experience of Master thesis at the University of Naples Federico II (Master of Science in Architecture and Heritage, 2024–2025, with supervision of Professors Federica Visconti and Renato Capozzi) that explores these themes through a study of Paestum archaeological park.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp44-49.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/8/

Authors: Cătălin Andrei Neagoe

The current investigation focuses on a particular type of buildings – existing properties, unclassified and classified as historical monuments, with an emphasis on the latter. From the perspective of protecting and enhancing their heritage component, of respecting quality requirements in construction, the issue of intervention works on this type of edifices is analyzed. At all stages of an intervention, starting with the beginning of the design, a single linguistic code becomes necessary as support for the exchange of information, cooperation, communication at the level of the teams of specialists and related stakeholders. Interventions involve a complex activity with multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary participation, where often routine gives way to innovative approaches or high skills prerequisites, and where uncertainties – especially in the early stages of design – are much more numerous and extensive than in the case of projects for new buildings or on existing unclassified buildings. Here, the architect’s missions and their relevance are configured sui generis, considering the specific character of the project, the type of interventions aimed for, the limitations, conditions and alternative measures imposed by the requirements of preserving the cultural attributes. From the perspective of the defining notes of a specialized language, in this paper, we analyzed the terms that define the variety of interventions on existing buildings and which are materialized in their definitions and classifications. We studied the extent to which, through the definitions and classifications assigned, the various types of interventions included in the specific legislation of immovable cultural heritage and that of civil buildings in general, in other documents and specialized studies, comply with these demands, the difficulties encountered and their nature, possible complementary alternatives with a remedial role. The paper concludes by suggesting potential areas of improvements on this topic and with proposals for future investigations.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp50-53.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/9/

Authors: Cătălin Andrei Neagoe

The paper analyses the issue of the approval/consent, documents issued by the Ministry of Culture through its specialized departments and decentralized public services, in the context of carrying out intervention works on historical monuments, implicitly of protecting the heritage component. Constituting a filter with official, legal value, guaranteeing that under the conditions of respecting the rigors stipulated by the matter of the technical documentation that was the basis for substantiating the fulfilment of its legal requirements, then the quality of the works carried out should simultaneously respond to the requirements of preserving the authenticity of the built heritage and those of increasing the lifespan of the building and/ or adapting it to its current functional requirements. The study analyses the significance of the approval issued by the Ministry of Culture for intervention works on historical monuments, the multifactorial determinants that contribute to the approval decision, the supporting specialized documentation, the main barriers that can distort or alter its issue, some proposals and future lines of study that could contribute to its efficiency.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp54-57.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/10/

Authors: Cristina Pană, Roxana Mitarcă

This article presents a unique exploration of architectural lighting for ruins and landscape, inspired by a workshop conducted at the Cantacuzino Domain in Floresti, Prahova. The workshop is focused on illuminating the ruins of the palace, the water tower, and a fragment of the historic park, involving UAUIM students and the local community. The lighting design workshop was part of a general approach for the revitalization of the domain, including the preservation and enhancement of its cultural heritage. By using innovative lighting techniques, the project aimed to highlight the historical significance and aesthetic value of the ruins, creating a captivating visual experience that would attract visitors and foster a deeper appreciation for the site. The involvement of UAUIM students provided an educational opportunity, allowing them to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical setting and engage with the local community. This collaboration not only enriched the students learning experience but also fostered a sense of ownership and pride within the community regarding their local heritage. Through hands-on experimentation and collaboration, participants had the opportunity to engage directly with the physical space of the palace ruins and the tower, exploring how light can transform and redefine their essence. For the architectural and landscape lighting, aspects of light pollution were also addressed to raise awareness about dark sky and how light can affect the fauna. The workshop emphasized the importance of protecting the cultural heritage, as well as the wildlife, by paying more attention to how we interact with our environment through lighting design. Overall, the initiative demonstrated how thoughtful architectural lighting can transform historic ruins into vibrant cultural landmarks, blending the past with contemporary lighting technology to create spaces that are both visually striking and historically resonant.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp58-63.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/11/

Authors: Carlotta Torricelli

Thinking about the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and sites, the importance of the figure of the “father” of the Porto School, Fernando Távora, emerges, both in terms of theoretical thinking and in terms of design experimentation. In his thinking, the search for consonance between forms and circumstance should be practiced through knowledge of the contemporary context, of different geographical realities and of the past, with the aim of recognizing the relationship between forms and life. The continuity of the space is an important value to be developed; space is in “permanent transformation”, therefore the design of the new should continue, seeking to innovate. The paper begins by identifying Távora’s attitude in the field of rehabilitation, based on the principle of reciprocity, and proceeds to illustrate a sequence of interventions on the built environment carried out by the TA Lab section (composed by Sara Riboldi and Carlotta Torricelli) of the Torricelli Associati architectural practice over the last fifteen years, all dedicated to the theme of heritage reconversion. Through these experiences, the principle of the imagination of the new is affirmed in the continuous confrontation with the reality of the present and with history as an active matter of design, through a conscious process of rewriting that defines new relationships between site and theme, be-tween artifice and nature.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp64-69.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/12/

Authors: Maria Popa

Industrial Design in the contemporary era stems from the vast heritage of the twentieth century; enormous amounts of investigation have been done during this period in order to better define what industrial design actually entails and how it can be better fit to cater the needs of a fast-changing society. It was then, at an almost amorphous, embryonic stage, when schools like Bauhaus tried to implement means of unifying this emerging domain into a rational practice. During the following decades, designers strived to implement appropriate standardizations, given how the main catalyst of these efforts was the ubiquitous need for high quality objects for the masses. These efforts led to one of the main ideological pillars of the late twentieth century legacy – the idea of ‘good design’ – which eventually became almost a blueprint in the practice of design.

This article dares ask the question: How relevant is it today?

The new century dawned with its own new set of challenges for designers: new types of products and new needs of new generations. These provide the grounds for redefining what Industrial Design ought to implement in its practices, which can entail the metamorphosis of the ‘good design’ heritage into a broader, more natural approach organically implemented in the design process.

As such, this article proposes to both explore whether or not the ‘good’ denominator for contemporary Industrial Design is still needed, and also expose its current challenges as distinctive from the ones of the twentieth century. One consideration can be how Industrial Design, given its legacy, is now mature enough for it to no longer need the ‘good’ denominator – perhaps it has become ‘inherently good’. Moreover, perhaps ‘bad design’ is nowadays a symptom of a disease which exceeds the boundaries of Design, and reaches into societal, economic and cultural scopes, thus alleviating the need for separate denominations.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp70-73.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/13/

Authors: Gerardo Semprebon, Giulia Cazzaniga

Lessinia’s contrade embody an exemplary manifestation of a distinctive way of organizing anthropic space in mountain areas. Featuring stone slabs of impressive size, considering the handwork extraction techniques, the everyday architecture epitomized in traditional contrade has given life to unique built environments and the configuration of open spaces that today form an important local heritage. What is happening to this historical legacy, both from architectural and landscape perspectives is the starting point of this research, which aims to explore paths of sustainable development able to identify cultural values for contemporary society, admitting the alteration of built heritage as a possible approach to redeem abandonment or seasonal use. In this context, it is important to reflect on how an architectural heritage connected to a fragile territorial palimpsest can once again be integrated into innovative systems capable of redefining the role of resources and the built environment as new models of sustainable development. The contribution, part of the in-progress research project “Future Ruralities” based on archival documentation, participant observation, and design strategies’ formulations, details the ongoing dynamics and lays the foundation for a transformation scenario aware of historical heritage’s importance but sensitive to economics and environmental conditions. It proposes a shift in perspective, from viewing the historical traces as datum to interpreting them as the historical source, thus understood not as fact but as an ever-changing being.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp74-79.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/14/

Authors: Mariachiara Bonetti, Alberto Arenghi

Tanzania faces significant challenges and opportunities within its urban and rural landscapes. A prevalent issue is the existence of numerous abandoned buildings constructed from both local materials and reinforced concrete. These structures pose aesthetic and environmental problems but offer potential for urban and rural regeneration and sustainability through circular economy principles.

International studies involving universities and research centers from Africa, Italy, and China have focused on sustainable design and historical-architectural conservation in Tanzania. Extensive observations of various architectural interventions across the Tanzanian region have revealed a landscape marked by underutilization and hybrid technologies, presenting both vernacular and contemporary features. Numerous historically valuable buildings in urban and peri-urban areas could undergo revitalization to reclaim cultural and territorial heritage.

In particular, Dar es Salaam faces a critical challenge: balancing rapid economic development with architectural preservation. The government’s strategy of constructing skyscrapers in the city center threatens the unique character of early 20th-century low-rise, mixed-use buildings. Observations and documentation of this transformation express concern over the loss of traditional Swahili houses and early post-independence structures, a disappearing architectural marvel. Despite ongoing demolitions, the potential for preservation remains. The Dar es Salaam Centre for Architectural Heritage (DARCH) aims to safeguard endangered structures through research and conservation efforts. This research, developed since 2008 through several architectural projects in the territory and, since 2018, thanks to the collaboration between the University of Brescia (IT) and the RUCU of Iringa (TZ), also promotes the exchange of skills through education and the use of relevant advanced technologies, such as the laboratories of the Teaching Museum ZUMAA and the ZIBS Zhejiang University of Hangzhou, China.

A comprehensive approach to regenerating abandoned buildings, involving collaboration among international entities, architects, local authorities, and communities, necessitates detailed structural analysis, stakeholder engagement, and the use of local, sustainable materials. This strategy mitigates environmental impact, promotes local skills and resources, fosters a resilient and sustainable built environment, and enhances the cultural heritage of these places alongside their strategic economic contribution linked to tourism.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp80-85.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/15/

Authors: Boyang Shen

Hosting non-permanent art exhibitions in various built heritage sites is increasingly becoming a popular form of heritage tourism. Around the world, practices combining art curation with integrated management and adaptive reuse of heritage are emerging. This paper aims to synthesize the existing methods and experiences of this form of heritage tourism, and explores a potential pattern for its application to water-related heritage sites, which have received increasing attention in recent decades. It proposes the concept of water-environmental art as the core of this pattern, aligning it with water-related heritage and complementing the existing environmental art types within heritage-art projects. Using the Waterdriehoek area in South Holland as a case study for this pattern, the paper discusses the spatial structure of non-permanent art exhibitions in water-related heritage sites and examines the interaction and curatorial potential between water-environmental art and different types of water-related built heritage. Additionally, it provides a framework for applying the discussed pattern to other water-related heritage sites.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp86-91.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/16/

Authors: Alexandra Marinescu

The article proposes a study on the concept of (non)innovation during the Ceaușescu era, particularly in the period of maximal ostracism of any form of freedom – the 1980s. In a manner that can be described as cynical, innovation was coordinated by a resistance group that manifested covertly. This concealed breath of innovation of the time has gradually become the intangible cultural heritage of our society.

The journey into the (non)innovation of the architectural field in Romania during 1980’s becomes like a negotiation with history: a decade where absurdity became normal. The mirror image between the following binary opposites: construction-acceptance and secrecy-dreaming shows how they were combined in the cultural society of the time. On one hand, the construction of the most important Ceaușescu-era buildings (construction), together with the ostracization of the creative flow (acceptance) become the description of the cultural heritage in which Romanian society finds itself. On the other hand, the article brings into discussion a surprising contribution of resistance that lived in the cultural suburbs (secrecy) and that, through subtle manifestations and architecture competitions, emulated its creative flow (dreaming). Therefore, this period gave birth to a complex diodic space of cohabitation of a hidden intangible cultural heritage – innovation, infiltrated into a rigorous cadence of the built heritage – (non)innovation.

It can be asserted that the 1980s saw the true apotheosis of cultural resistance, whose echo emanates even today. Having learned to express itself through an artistic lexicon organized in successive and dense layers with subtle hidden messages, the cultural landscape will, after the Tf moment (the 1989 revolution), acquire introspective dimensions for instance palimpsest idea, by explorations of individual or collective traumas. Ways in which party-guided (non)innovations became the engine for generating hidden innovation will be examined. By highlighting these cause-effect binomial links, an innovative direction for understanding intangible cultural heritage is opened.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp92-97.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/17/

Authors: Beatrice-Gabriela Jöger

Although present in traditional architecture for millennia, textiles have been neglected by architects as reliable construction mate-rials due to their short(er) lifespan and lower strength. The 20th century brought us synthetic materials which, for several decades, produced a boom in the multiplication of the uses of textiles which, being man-made, could be imprinted with the desired characteristics right from the time of manufacture. In the last decades, Nano, IoT and Smart technologies have allowed the application of specific characteristics corresponding to precise uses on both synthetic and natural materials. This, together with the diversification of the sources of raw materials, allowed the expansion of the uses of textile materials, which are present today from the structure of the constructions to the finishes and interior fittings. The main qualities specific to textile materials – a low weight per volume unit, flexibility, easy and reversible installation – represent an asset in their use in the restoration or protection of heritage buildings and sites. The current principles of restoration, which require a discreet and reversible intervention on the building itself, lead to the search for new materials solutions that are resistant but not structurally or visually invasive. Just as minimally invasive solutions are sought in the medical field, the same is happening in the field of restoration - healing of buildings. The fragility of monuments, which we often face, can be reinforced and/or protected with the help of textile systems of high resistance but with a minimal presence. The problem we have faced for decades, that of the restoration of modern materials (such as reinforced concrete), can be solved with the help of textiles and the technologies included in them. In the present article we will present some examples of textile materials that are already or could be included among those used for heritage buildings.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp98-103.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/18/

Authors: Sara Ghirardini, Amath Luca Diatta

This study investigates the synergy between cultural heritage and fashion, highlighting how these two dimensions can collaborate to generate new forms of territorial, artistic, and social valorisation. The analysis of three exemplary cases – Dior Cruise collections, Chanel’s Métiers d’Art, and Dolce & Gabbana Grand Tour – highlights how major fashion houses have intertwined their sartorial aesthetics with the genius loci of sites selected for their cultural and artistic value. These projects take the form of narrative platforms of global relevance, going beyond the celebration of fashion’s creativity. They activate profound dialogues with cultural contexts, reinterpret local traditions, and bestow a dynamic and contemporary dimension upon heritage. The interdisciplinary approach illustrates how fashion can contribute to both the preservation and innovation of cultural heritage through collaborations with artisans, artists, and local institutions. Elements rooted in the culture and traditions of specific places are translated into aesthetic languages that merge the brand’s style with local cultures. This demonstrates how heritage – both tangible and intangible – can be fertile ground for creative innovation. Through the analysis of specific case studies, the research also highlights the transformative role of temporary installations, which not only enhance the visibility of the sites chosen for the collections’ presentations but often improve their accessibility and interpretation. These interventions, whether ephemeral or lasting, underscore the potential of fashion as a creative medium able to integrate past and present, to promote intercultural dialogue, and to support the social and economic revitalisation of the territories involved. The paper thus offers a reflection on the new possibilities arising from the synergy between the fashion event system, its communicative immediacy, and cultural heritage. It outlines an original model of valorisation that projects heritage towards a broader and more inclusive perspective.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp104-109.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/19/

Authors: Silvia-Ileana Costiuc

The purpose of this research is to address the ownership and abandonment issue of the historical monuments, one of the main causes of the national decay of historical architecture in Romania. After World War II, in 1948, the Nationalization Law was enacted, leading to the confiscation of private enterprises. Two years later, a decree was issued that extended the state’s control to the headquarters of these enterprises, along with the homes and other forms of immovable heritage the elite owned. Afterwards, the state often confined the rightful owners of historic buildings to a small section of their property, imprisoned or dislocated them to forced domicile, replaced them with other social groups, or, in some cases, forced them to cohabitate. This upheaval disrupted many individual and family lives across generations, severing the natural familial connection to their ancestral homes. Consequently, we now face a situation where multiple tenants, concessionaires and administrators inhabit one historical monument and lack a natural attachment to the building they inhabit as well as they lack cultural knowledge. Some of the original families spent decades reclaiming their properties. Some had regained them in a context where maintenance costs exceed their financial capacity. During the endeavor they saw their intrinsic bond to these buildings eroded. In addition, due to limited financial means in most of the cases, many of the historical monuments remain neglected. In conclusion, there is an urgent need to reestablish a positive relationship between current owners and the historical monuments they possess. This should include heritage education for the owners, anthropological research, financial aid and international collaboration. The effort has the potential to restore trust in the state among monument owners, heritage experts and society and can lead to a situation where the owners take better care of our common architectural heritage.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp110-113.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/20/

Authors: Francesco Chiacchiera

The extraordinary amount of disused, abandoned or ruined built heritage - both monumental and ordinary, listed or not - can be traced as one of the characteristics of contemporary urban culture in Europe, especially in mediterranean contexts. The emergence and development of the so-called ‘knowledge economies’ in the creative field, the promotion of recycling practices, sustainability issues, environmental and resource conservation policies, and a renewed sensitivity towards existing heritage by the academic and professional community, make adaptive reuse practice increasingly important in both project practice and academic dis-course, especially in the European continental context. The paper aims to investigate and analyse the main characteristics and concepts underlying the adaptive reuse of built heritage as a distinctive contemporary design practice, starting with a theoretical examination of its evolution from spontaneous practice to aesthetic one, to moves then to a critical reading of the “design attitudes” of contemporary projects towards the existing, with particular focus on recent interventions characterized by innovative and resource-saving approaches to the heritage, and on public-related uses and functions, in order to draw a critical-theoretical background for further researches on the field.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp114-119.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/21/

Authors: Gianluigi Mondaini, Giovanni Rocco Cellini

As part of the “third mission” activities, the relationships between the Department of Civil, Building, and Architecture Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Marche (scientific director Prof. Gianluigi Mondaini) and the National Agency for State Property has produced a study aimed at verifying the potential of a possible strategy for the reuse and repurposing of two significant state-owned buildings in the heart of the historical center of the city of Ascoli Piceno.

In particular the paper treats the case of Palazzo Colucci, with its garden and the former Convent of the Vergini later transformed and expanded to serve as a military barracks. Within this transformation process, the hypothesis of converting these buildings into the new headquarters of the Prefecture of Ascoli Piceno and into the new headquarters of the Southern Marche Superintendency, together with a university dormitory with related services open to the public has been proposed.

To meet the changing needs of the contemporary city, the hypothesis of a functional mix of governmental, administrative, and residential uses within a strategic part of the historic city can be an opportunity for urban regeneration and enhancement of the preexisting architectural heritage. This approach sensitizes and coordinates a variety of public and private entities that, together, would actively contribute to the urban transformation process, bringing life and innovative uses to an urban area that is currently largely inactive. The intervention hypothesis, taking into account the various demands, has engaged with the spatial, geometric, and qualitative features of a system of historic buildings that mark the end of the ancient decumanus of the Roman layout of the city of Ascoli Piceno. This approach aims to respond to new requirement frameworks while primarily promoting an integrated architecture capable of dialogue between history and contemporary innovation.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp120-123.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/22/

Authors: Tanya Brefelean, Ioan-Sergiu Brefelean

Every time people pass the neighbourhood they used to grow up in, some of the best of their memories come together, not only because schools represent something very special for their inner young souls, but because they are tangible, architectural pieces of cultural heritage that in most of the cases do not change for decades. Not only adults want to take a break and contemplate the whole feeling, but also, if children are around, they need to share with them the experience, and mostly, to outline the ME-MY SCHOOL correspondence.

In countries like Romania, for example, there are the First Romanian Schools, that are not one’s own memory, but represent the pride of having a tradition that started with great ancestors. Then, there are the beautiful, decorated schools mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries that ‘’graduated’’ when the WW2 started, but with the certification of being monuments of architecture. Despite the simplicity of shape and colour, the communist buildings are also of great value because they represent the memory of a contemporary generation, buildings with a great potential of extension and renovation due to simple but good structure, flexible spaces and easy adaptation to fire security or access issues.

Connecting schools, integrating the landscape architecture to create exterior-interior relations of spaces, enhancing the beauty of the facades, shapes or other valuable parts by using light both natural and artificial, technology integrated in the design like new but proper educational screens and gadgets, moving wall, windows or roofs, new sustainable materials, a must for the contemporary exteriors and interior that children need nowadays, architects can definitely revive the memories of a whole neighbourhood.

Education is the most valuable heritage!

Let’s innovate schools! It’s talked a lot, needed a lot, we just have to move better.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp124-127.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/23/

Authors: Silvia-Ileana Costiuc

The Romanian restoration movement reached its peak be-tween 1952 and 1977. This period was characterized by the activity of the Directorate of Historical Monuments - DHM, a division under the relevant ministry. Following the nationalization of properties after World War II, the Romanian state became both the planner and beneficiary of restoration efforts. Archival materials from the National Institute of Heritage, along with dedicated publications, reflect a range of practices aligned to the on growing global awareness towards cultural heritage, concerns about authenticity and integrity, interdisciplinary and international cooperation, legislation development, technological innovations and other. During this time-frame, extensive historical research underpinning restoration projects was conducted, that included detailed studies of building techniques and the archaeological research became more pronounced. Innovations during this period included the implementation of anastylosis, protective structures, advancements in construction materials and techniques, the reinforcement of historical buildings with concrete, horizontal and vertical translations of buildings. A significant focus was placed on the rehabilitation of historical assemblies, city centers, and historic avenues, emphasizing an urban perspective on restoration. This included debates on contemporary interventions in historic places, extensive landscape reshaping, urban furnishings, signage and decorative lighting projects. Other notable areas of interest were vernacular architecture, interdisciplinary fresco restoration using new technologies, restitution of historical functions, interpretation museums within iconic monuments, inventory actions and the institution of buffer zones. These developments indicate that DHM’s efforts in heritage conservation align well with leading global practices. The DHM was not only the sole institution responsible for coordinating the conservation of built heritage, but it also served as the exclusive national school for heritage architects, which was abruptly disbanded in 1977. Following the political regime change in 1989, national professionals and emerging institutions encountered a transformed political and economic landscape, while still aspiring to the professional standards of the past.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp128-133.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/24/

Authors: Bruna Di Palma, Mariano Nuzzo, Serena Borea, Marianna Varchetta

In the historical territories of the inland countryside, the ‘synchronic rediscovery’ of different types of heritage is an opportunity to outline development prospects that rethink architecture and archaeology, for instance, as inseparable from the multi-dimensional and stratified environment in which they are inserted, in terms of temporal rewinding and spatial restitching.

Among the declinations of the contemporary project for the enhancement of the entire historical and territorial phenomenon, an interesting reflection concerns two innovative aspects in particular: on the one hand, the capacity to incorporate in synthetic configurations the evolving evolution of the different phases of the archaeological discovery, and, on the other hand, the possibility of interconnecting different types of heritage in integrated redevelopment strategies, as demonstrated by the experiments conducted by Toni Gironès, Luigi Franciosini and Carles Enrich, to name but a few architects who constantly measure themselves with these themes.

With these premises, as part of an Agreement for scientific collaboration between the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the metropolitan area of Naples and the Department of Architecture of University Federico II of Naples (Italy) aimed at the knowledge and enhancement of the architectural, archaeological and landscape heritage of the Piana Campana, the Suessola area in Acerra was studied, within the urban park of the ancient Roman city in which the eighteenth-century Casina Spinelli, a historic monumental residence, also falls.

The main innovation of this experience concerns a project implementation that proceeds synchronously with the progress of archaeological excava-tions. In fact, the aim of the work concerned the definition of a strategy of accessibility, narration and usability that looks at the different times and spaces of which the palimpsest is composed, interpreting the progressive phases of discovery and development of the area in unitary and interconnected terms. The system of new architectural devices is addressed to the interpretation and enhancement of the ruins, as well as to the fruition in support of the archaeological excavation site, and at the same time, it stands as a plot of contemporary and reversible signs on the historical, anthropic and natural traces of the entire Piana Campana.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp134-139.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/25/

Authors: Alexandra Ioana Radu

Researching and reviewing modern heritage in a country as Romania - with a troubled political past linked to it - is somewhat difficult. Yet, in today's time, with all the developments threatening the former layer, it is necessary.

The commercial centers that were once designed for each resort represent a particular type of experimental architecture (even as a whole, the entire project for the Romanian seaside started in the early 60`s had this characteristic). These shopping places are the prototype for the ones later placed inside preplanned residential areas across the country – of course, with slight changes according to the rather rough climate. They were open air pavilions, with glass boxes as stores and gardens patched along. The overall image resembled the one of the commercial strips, with neon lights and colour. It was a special kind of holiday atmosphere and freedom that was sought after. Furthermore, each of these architectural ensembles stands aside the box-like modernism of that time in Europe, by being charming and inviting towards visitors. Maybe the design team drew inspiration from the works of the European architects who went over the Ocean after the War.

Most of these early commercial centers are still in use during the summer. While some kept part of their original volume and plan close to the open-ing day, some lost their unique elements in a search to accommodate new features needed today.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp140-143.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/26/

Authors: Ruxandra Vasile

The current article is part of a broader theoretical approach to studying the architectural façade, and it aims to reveal, in a technical manner, good practices for understanding the historical architectural façade.

Working on a solid basis in the restoration field requires a thorough knowledge of the historical monument. The theoretical foundation for the architecture project is laid by research, which is often multidisciplinary, involving painters, restorers, historians, and architects.

Plaster is a classical render used on architectural façades and can take virtually any form, color, or texture to achieve the desired effect on the building. The general composition of a plaster renders consists of the base layer (plaster body) of hard consistency, adherent to the support layer (e.g., brick masonry), and the finishing plaster of a fine and dense consistency with a small thickness. By sanding in various directions and brushing, different textures can be achieved that are perceived differently in the light and will develop a distinct patina (depending on the sanding direction). Optionally, a fine layer of painting film can be added in order to protect the finishing plaster.

In the case of historical monuments, the first stage consists of the in situ analysis of the plaster, especially the cohesion of the material. The

cracks, their direction and depth, are visually inspected, and the cohesion is checked by non-invasive techniques. The next stage consists of the analysis of the plaster taken from the site to determine the chemical and physical composition using the latest technology available, such as XR or SEM. By covering the vast expression of plaster renders throughout architectural history and evaluating current practices in conservation and restoration, we will see how laboratory research and technology can aid in restoring the historic façades.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp144-147.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/27/

Authors: Sabin-Andrei Țenea

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing design processes, enabling the creation of unprecedented forms that challenge traditional aesthetics. However, this pursuit of defamiliarization through AI-driven innovation raises critical concerns about the psychological well-being of users and the erosion of cultural identity. This paper addresses the research gap concerning the balance between technological advancement and cultural familiarity in architecture. By exploring historical and contemporary examples of architectural hybridity, the paper proposes a systematic methodology for developing hybrid architectural aesthetics that harmonize innovation with cultural resonance. Through an interdisciplinary approach incorporating neuroscience, cultural theory, and architectural practice, the study underscores the imperative of integrating AI technologies ethically and sustainably to foster environments that are both intellectually stimulating and emotionally comforting.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp148-155.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/28/

Authors: Adelina Gabriela Lupu

The avid pressure that technological progress imposes is also transposed into the built space, which must be able to accommodate the new needs/challenges. But if a device is easy to replace with a new one, a building is not as easily replaceable. Recycling seems to be a key word of the 21st century, but in some situations, it seems a difficult action to apply to constructions that have reached a stage unsuitable for use. The public has positive recollections of the centennial-built space, ruins of a bygone time it witnessed only in books or photographs, which through the lens of the mind appears almost romanticised. On another note, the remains of recent buildings are sometimes seen as an aggression in the built space, ruins of a time that has been witnessed and whose time is still felt. As in the case of post-military architecture that, although laying fallow, is still surrounded by walls with sealed gates, absent of its original usefulness because it is technologically outdated. Military events have significantly influenced the history of the world and that is why the military legacy, in all its aspects, has been important in shaping today’s society [1]. These ensembles are often adjacent, but they are not erased from the local memory, because the city is a living organism, in perpetual transformation, that functions as a a coherent system. As the military-built environment began to suffer mutations in the way it is built, it also needed to be in unison with the changes in the society and politics. Therefore, special care was taken in the instruction of the future military cadets in construction. Looking at the evolution of modern military-built environment is there a corelation with the evolution of the construction branch in the military school? Can we deduct that this could be a factor offering more value to some of the military buildings? If we consider the immovable heritage of military constructions as legacy, then it represents an intangible connection through the memory of a place, or an object that can be important from a social or cultural point of view and which can be transmuted in a catalyst object in the socio-cultural environment of a community.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp156-159.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/29/

Authors: Leonardo Moretti

The article examines the transformative impact of temporary exhibitions organised by the Hub for Heritage and Habitat research group and how light processes of transformation can highlight the potential of spaces.

The exhibitions analysed concern the works of students from the Building Engineering-Architecture courses at the Polytechnic University of the Marche, typically focusing on the Marche Region.

We will analyse the “Cityscape” exhibitions, the title of the final exhibition held every July since 2013. The exhibition aims to share the results of UNIVPM students’ study courses with local administrations, industry professionals, and the public.

Architectural design courses focus on the recovery of existing building heritage and the redevelopment of peripheral urban areas. For this reason, these temporary exhibitions have always focused on marginal places, underused spaces, or those in a state of neglect.

The most recent exhibitions were set up between the municipalities of Ancona and Jesi. In 2019, for example, the Polveriera Castelfidardo was chosen, located in the heart of Ancona’s Cardeto Park, a recently renovated space rarely open to the public. In 2022, the venue was a warehouse within the Municipal Agricultural Consortium of Jesi. For the past two years, the exhibitions have been held at the staircase of the Caserma Villarey, a large, underused space, and the Chiesa del Gesù, in the heart of the historic centre of Ancona, which is open to the public only on a few occasions during the year.

By occupying these spaces with new interactive elements, users can recognise their unexploited potential: temporary exhibitions have turned a spotlight back on these places, making them more attractive and acting as catalysts for urban renewal.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp160-163.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/30/

Authors: Maddalena Ferretti, Benedetta Di Leo

The paper investigates the path developed so far within the framework of the research agreement “ULTRACALEM. The Cagli of the future. Strategic programme for a new vision of Cagli. Relevant themes, places and architectures for the urban and cultural regeneration of the city.” The research and design process involves the municipality of Cagli and the Department DICEA of UNIVPM and aims at imagining short, medium and long-term design strategies to reactivate a territory experiencing significant risks, such as depopulation. Careful mapping and reading of the city have been validated through community engagement and public presentations, to unveil “potential spaces”, selected areas that are neglect-ed or underused but rich in potential. Indeed, they are an important legacy for Cagli, closely linked to the stories of its inhabitants. The community engagement activities were crucial to involve local population in the research, ultimately guiding the final design visions based on the territory’s needs and desires. In working with and on the territory, the researcher-designer task is to manage the fundamental and fragile relationship with local actors, avoiding top-down solutions which are alien to the context and instead favouring new collaborative practices. These activities were fundamental in developing transformative strategies and project visions tailored to the territory. They facilitated a dynamic exchange between the perspectives of communities and the expertise of researcher-designers, ensuring that proposed interventions were grounded in real-world needs and aspirations. This inclusive approach fostered a collaborative environment, bringing together stakeholders and leveraging their collective knowledge to address the complexities of the territory. The trans-scalar and participatory approach, focused on reactivating existing building and in collaboration with administration and citizens, underscores the pivotal role of thoughtful architectural and urban design in the development of a shared vision of ULTRACALEM towards a more resilient and vibrant community.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp164-171.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/31/

Authors: Claudia Angarano

The paper reflects on the relationship between transformation, memory and heritage through a project for Syracuse. The project con-cerns three distinct places and assumes three different scales: the first and most extensive place, the Epipoli plateau, geographically defined by the rocky leap on one side and sloping towards the sea on the other. Here the ancient city was built of which traces of the Dionysian walls garrisoned by the Euryalus castle can still be partially read; the site of the Neapolis with the ancient architectures that define the archaeological park, located at the foot of the Epipoli crag, between the plateau and the later urban expansions and in relationship at a distance to its original horizon towards the sea; the third area concerns the eastern edge of the island of Ortigia, for years occupied by the Talete parking lot, a formal break between the historic city and the sea. Three different areas in which the autonomous “pieces” of the project work in system according to common objectives: to make it possible to read the extension of the city, providing collective spaces and connecting the fragmented parts perceived as distinct and distant and to give new formal definition to some places built incongruously over time or left unfinished, recovering or specifying new constituent relationships with the sea and its landscape, the two elements that have always identified the city and its architecture. Not only common objectives but also a general mode of intervention that, discarding everything that clutters the visual field and prevents the possibility of understanding the city, interprets the traces of the ancient and the formal characters of the orography of the places and, as in an archaeological excavation operation, tries to enlighten its constituent reasons by proposing a new design, analytical and synthetic at the same time, that connects in a unified whole the scattered fragments as an opportunity – also for the design of the modern city – to rediscover, according to Italo Calvino, “the gods of the city”.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp172-177.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/32/

Authors: Francesco Chiacchiera, Gianluigi Mondaini

The opportunity to establish a reflection on the relation-ship between Heritage and Innovation, on the role of built heritage as a significant element for the medium-sized city, and on the relationships between Heritage, the Contemporary City, and its uses, arises from a series of applied research studies conducted by the UNIVPM research group 'Hub for Heritage and Habitat' as part of the activities of commissioned by the Regional Office of the State Property Agency. This research focused on the case study of the area known as 'Colle dei Cappuccini' within the Municipal natural park called “Cardeto” inside the city centre of Ancona, specifically on the built complex of the former Capuchin friars' convent, later a military barracks, which is now disused. This area of the city, which includes various pre-modern fortifications, is an extraordinary blend of artifice and nature, with a highly valuable historical stratification close to the city's historic core. However, it is in a state of 'periphery at the center,' where many of the existing structures are in a state of abandonment. The owner's intention to transfer the Provincial State Archives headquarters there represents an opportunity to reactivate not only an urban container but an entire habitat where nature and artifice, landscape and environment, meet through the creativity of the architectural project and its functional program. This allows for a new dialogue between heritage and innovation, between the present and the future.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp178-183.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/33/

Authors: Antonio De Rossi, Carlo Deregibus, Matteo Tempestini

The historical complex of Torino Esposizioni was designed by Ettore Sottsass senior in the ’30s, then modified by Roberto Biscaretti di Ruffia and Pierluigi Nervi in the ’50s before suffering several modifications and being abandoned in the ’80s. The complex is now to be renovated, becoming part of the new Architecture Campus of Politecnico di Torino and, in the main pavilion, hosting the Central Civic Library. In the first part, the essay tells the history of the complex, showing how the various interventions changed its spaces’ usability and resilience, eventually contributing to its abandonment. Then, it investigates the recent history, looking at the multiple failed attempts to restore the building due to several intertwined factors – e.g., its cultural value, its structural behaviour, costs, and the overlapping of inconsistent norms – that affected its actual potential. The second part of the essay describes the renovation project, firstly introducing the strategic division of Politecnico di Torino – the Masterplan Team – and then deepening four innovative issues of the project. The design approach, introducing the architectural outputs in the political and decisional process through the continuous construction of possible scenarios.

The way the various stakeholders – e.g., politicians, technical directors of the city, and the Superintendence (the cultural authority that controls and supervises the design of historical buildings – were involved in the process by means of unofficial but performative design documents. The design approach, aimed at tracing down the elements of values, turning them into a system of alive elements defining priorities and opportunities, and using this system to redesign small and big interventions that valorise the building while renovating it, promoting its resilience through design. Lastly, innovation in design actions: the whole intervention is a continuous experimentation of innovative design solutions to make all parts consistent with the renovated legacy building.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp184-191.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/34/

Authors: Cosmina Bouaru

As in most socialist republics, the residences and guesthouses of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (CC of PCR) were created by the party’s internal administrations as unique architectural objects within the political representation circuit, benefiting from notable production during the years of modernist reconnection. Today, they embody a distinct chapter of the regime’s architecture, challenging both the study of recent architectural history and their preservation, along with their place in the collective memory.The current contribution proposes a reevaluation of the CC of PCR’s built legacy within the broader debate on dissonant heritage, considering the allegorical dimension arising from their past ‘exogenous’ nature. Questioning the factor of exogeneity, a radiography of the CC’s residences and guesthouses’ historical substance reveals a spectrum of nuances. On one hand, this can be interpreted through dichotomous values establishing a causal relationship between their architectural quality and the political context: as luxury objects, they diverge from ideological foundations and functionalist architecture, yet, as objects of representation, they stem from the core of political activity. Although designed at the margins of urban planning projects and outside state standards, they aligned somewhat with national architectural discourse during the relative liberalization of the 1960s.

On the other hand, the perspective of exogeneity provides a premise for expanding the discussion beyond the dissonant implications of socialist facture. The dissonance issue may be legible in the post-Revolution management of communist elites’ heritage, varying between the Region and the Capital, whether through maintaining them in the protocol circuit, museification, or interventions enabled by their privatisation. However, their inherent secrecy, combined with architectural novelty and historical identity, supports a more allegorical understanding of this heritage, even within local communities.

Thus, these two attitudes will constitute the focus of the present study, which, by addressing the elusive aspects of socialist-era architecture, aims to add a new dimension to the research framework for reconciling with recent heritage.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp192-197.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/35/

Authors: Rodica Crișan

More than the few isolated monuments, the diffuse minor architecture is the one that determines the specific atmosphere of a historic town. A comparison between Porto and Bucharest points out different local minor architecture and, moreover, completely different attitudes towards it, also including various types of “innovation within heritage”. This comparison is an opportunity to reflect on “best practices” regarding the minor architecture, considering its contribution to the local identity of a historic town.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp198-203.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/36/

Authors: Camilla Donantoni

Architecture builds the city in detail. Space, whether urban, architectural or landscape, arouses such intense sensations and feelings that it inspires intellect and reason. However, those who experience the city of the present are often unaware of the archaeological, artistic and architectural heritage it possesses, and the need to consider the places and architecture of the historic city as historical-material-environmental permanences is becoming increasingly urgent.

Significant is the case of the former Church of San Lorenzo di Castello in Venice, which still stands today in its majestic grandeur; a place evocative of past events, in which echoes of successive generations and memories of splendours now faded remain. In fact, over time it has lost its formal and functional essentiality, thus becoming emblematic of a critical condition that often involves historical and especially religious buildings.

The uniqueness of this space also inspired the architect Renzo Piano in 1984, who created the temporary installation for Luigi Nono’s Prometheus, a musical work recently revived on its 40th anniversary.

The increasingly evident phenomena of material decay and static instability made it necessary to carry out some preliminary investigations prior to consolidation and restoration work recently realized to reopen the building to the city as Ocean Space, a global center presenting exhibitions, installations, research and public programs to promote critical literacy on the Ocean and environmental protection through the arts promoted by the TBA21 Academy.

This, then, is the meaning of ‘rethinking what exists’: to give back its own modernity to a building anachronistically at odds with its real belonging to contemporaneity, demonstrating the need for a consistent change to survive in time and to return to fulfil a noble task that is now earthly, no longer spiritual.

The theme that manifests itself in its contemporary paradox, in a city like Venice - that is the essence of paradox - is today a necessity and primarily an opportunity: to build to preserve. The real contradiction of conservation, or rather of memory, is that it needs to change, just as it needs to repeat itself in order to be preserved.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp204-209.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/37/

Authors: Greta Allegretti, Pietro Brunazzi

Within the frame of innovative exhibition practices intertwined with the contribution of creative industries, the paper focuses on fashion shows, scenography and scenic design. These examples of large ‘ephemeral reconstructions’ are magniloquent scenic tools for the success of the event, and also genuine museum and scientific devices that stage replica models of monuments or fragments of architecture that gain as much relevance as the collection itself. The contemporary project design for fashion events constitutes a paradigm shift concerning the theme of the project on the preexistence and preservation of monuments, understood not as a direct intervention but as a cognitive tool in the form of scenic and interactive displays which may be seen as “in-vitro” reconstructions, in which the reconstruction of a monumental facies takes place thanks to the recomposition of architecture within controlled perimeters, understood both formally (i.e. large event spaces that accommodate the runway) and temporally (i.e. reconstructions that live the time of the unfolding of the event). An in-vitro reconstruction appears as an operation adherent to the reference form in which the reconstructed portion acquires the fullness of meaning by being perfectly adherent and recognisable to itself, with a minimum quantum of interpretive interpolation. The contribution formally studies these episodes of ephemeral reconstructions and how they contribute to developing a new exhibition model of architecture and monuments out of their context.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp210-215.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/38/

Authors: Vlad Iosif

This article explores the relevance of common space in the context of cultural heritage conservation, emphasizing the stimulation of collective memory awareness regarding cultural heritage. In their work, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri argue that there are currently two main types of commons: natural commons and social commons, which they fur-ther subdivide into five distinct categories. Among these, cultural heritage is classified as an intangible common good of ideas and cultural products.

Furthermore, Stavros Stavrides explores methods to stimulate collective perception of cultural heritage, arguing that collective memory can be stimulated and reconfigured. These methods involve creating an emotional attachment of people to cultural heritage, thus facilitating increased awareness and a deeper appreciation of it.

The article employs a mixed methodology, combining the theoretical analysis of the works of Hardt, Negri, and Stavrides with empirical studies to investigate and verify the effects of methods that stimulate collective perception of cultural heritage. This approach involves examining public space projects where these methods have been integrated into the design process, demonstrating the importance of strategic use of common spaces to enhance awareness and conservation of cultural heritage. The

conclusions emphasize that a strategic use of common spaces can lead to a deeper appreciation and conservation of cultural heritage.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp216-219.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/39/

Authors: Astrid Rottman, Diana Pascu

A city is more than the sum of its physical spaces; it is a re-pository of individual and collective memory. As Italo Calvino beautifully stated, a city consists of “the relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past”. Infused with our emotions and experiences, the spaces we live in become the places of our existence. Endowed with meaning, these locis are where our lives, social relationships and cultural practices are rooted. Based on a theoretical concept belonging to Professor Augustin Ioan -, a term that refers to those sites that already contain heritage information about their past, unfortunately hidden in the present and still waiting to be retold, we initiated, for the UAUIM Diploma Session 2024, a collective student research project that recalls an area of the former Jewish quarter of Bucharest. Starting from the memory of the sites and the generative element of the study - the Beth Hamidras Synagogue - the project proposes an urban intervention that brings together a series of buildings (mostly architectural monuments located along Calea Moșilor) in a possible pedestrian route that will reactivate the Jewish quarter and that will today host functions appropriate for such a central area. Given the advanced state of disrepair of the buildings, the project starts with their restoration and also proposes a series of architectural interventions that will integrate them into the socio-cultural context of the city. The pedestrian route, detailed by specific morphological elements, will be the main element to coagulate the public interest in the area. The paper will focus on our one-year research journey, from the first moments spent on-site to the final Diploma Project defense (July 2024). Our architectural experience is described as an emotional and thought-provoking process that we went through together—tutor and students—not only to rehabilitate a part of Bucharest’s heritage but also to unveil its hidden, silent memory.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp220-225.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/40/

Authors: Elvira De Felice

The theme of architecture for archaeology is at the center of a heated debate, within which recent orientations seek a response that tries to combine design, heritage and landscape, in order to re-signify forgotten archaeological fragments through the addiction of a contemporary mark. The proposal to rediscover the countryside of Pljevlja moves from these premises: it’s a city in the north of Montenegro, characterized by an extractive vocation but with also interesting archaeological fragments under excavation, that refer to the Roman settlement of Municipium S. The design intervention aims to create a system of territorial relations within which new centralities stand out and constitute a possibility of economic-cultural revival through the care for local heritage. The first intervention involves a new gateway to the area, a visitor center that crosses a stream and projects itself towards the excavations, constituting a path towards knowledge through a first rectilinear block behind which other two volumes takes place, creating an introvert yet public central space. The path within the archaeological park proceeds towards the excavation area, where the architectural sign is minimal but recognizable, driven by the intent to make the area accessible and understandable to the visitor, who can rediscover the settlement by recognizing its peculiar traits. To conclude the sequence, there is the landscape arrangement of the necropolis, which acquire new relevance thanks to an archaeological walk articulated on terraces. The intervention does not exclude the addition of a small pavilion and a structure that, developing in height, configures itself as a landmark. What the project seeks to do is to rediscover the ancient history of Municipium S through the dual lens of archaeological excavation and design action, in order to find a new yet ancient identity for the local populations, which roots in a past that emerges from forgotten soils.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp226-231.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/41/

Authors: Ruxandra Balcanu

The objective of this paper is to advance the academic dis-course on the Romanian socialist sporting heritage and to examine poten-tial avenues for enhancing its visibility in the public domain. This heritage encompasses a range of sporting facilities, including multi-purpose and gymnastic halls, as well as outdoor spaces such as stadiums and parks.

Despite their construction during the socialist era, some of these buildings defy the prevailing norms of the period, representing experimental projects that combine concrete structures and architectural elements in new ways.

In the course of my doctoral research on the architecture and politics of sports in Romania during the socialist era, I have identified a significant challenge: the distorted perception of these buildings by the public. These structures are typically regarded as obsolete buildings and emblematic for the communist era, despite their continued utilization by local sports teams and communities.

An illustrative case is the Sports Hall in Bacău, designed in 1971 and built the following year. The building, which is an excellent example of late modern architecture, a popular style in Europe during that period, has remained largely unchanged over time. It continues to serve as the city’s only sports hall. Until the new and larger sports hall is completed, this will remain the sole option for local teams. The question thus arises as to what will become of this building when it is no longer the only option. Will it be demolished first, as has occurred in other similar cases across the country?

This paper initiates a discussion about the socialist sports halls, which remain a contentious architectural presence in public spaces, and how we as a society can understand and utilize them.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp232-235.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/42/

Authors: Gianluigi Mondaini, Lorenzo Duranti

This study explores the concept of ‘backbeat’ in architecture, analysing buildings that subvert the natural progression of forms to align with ideologies, styles, and histories that twist reality. These buildings often produce mimetic architectures serving not as witnesses of their time but as fictions of a past era. Inspired by Achille Bonito Oliva’s notion of the ‘traitor’ who modifies an unacceptable reality, this research focuses on the ‘deformation’ of architectural forms as expressions in counter-time. This ambiguous concept encompasses both negative and positive meanings, akin to backbeat in music, creating vibrant notes. Villa Lauri has undergone numerous extensions and alterations over time, resulting in a heterogeneous complex. After a period of neglect, the villa is now being restored.

The eastern portion, the most compromised, has been declared of ‘no cultural interest’ by the Superintendency, allowing demolition of incon-gruent buildings and their replacement with an auditorium. The proposed renovation project aims to re-establish the villa’s architectural balance and symmetry while introducing contemporary elements. The new auditorium will be inserted between the historic villa and the original small end building, maintaining a harmonious dialogue with the existing architecture. The double-tiered portico and set-back glass façade echo the restored left wing’s proportions, while the cladding, pillar shapes, and added volumes give it contemporary character. The foyer features a suspended volume containing the hall and evoking shapes reminiscent of a musical instrument. By integrating modern construction techniques such as steel prefabrication, the project ensures seismic resilience and construction efficiency. The structural elements and materials respect and reinterpret the villa’s historical aesthetics, emphasizing the value of architectural dialogue as a creative force. The restoration of Villa Lauri shows how intervention can transform historic buildings into functional, vibrant spaces, respecting their heritage and contributing to the dynamic preservation of history, offering new life to structures.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp236-241.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/43/

Authors: Oana Maria Ilie

Working from home has been present in the majority of the historical city centres, the house with shop or workshop being one of the most common types of urban dwelling over the centuries. Some of these buildings, which made up a big part of the built environment, are still preserved today, but most of the time they go unnoticed. Following the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a major shift towards working from home. This had direct implications especially on urban housing which had to also accommodate the workspace, making it difficult to handle all the new challenges that appeared trying to balance the complex relationship between them. In this context, the historical buildings that managed to incorporate both hypostases may represent valuable resources for building resilient housing and workspaces in the future. The study will be based on some local works, as well as some case studies from the Bucharest’s urban space, relying at the same time on both bibliographic and archival research. Therefore, the paper outlines some typologies present in Bucharest, exploring the houses of the traditional urban fabric that combined the home and the workspace in search of a better understanding of their or-ganization, characteristics, and the potential that they can have in defining alternative approaches in the current post-pandemic context in which a significant number of people is working from home.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp242-247.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/44/

Authors: Andreea Calma

We identify in Romania an urgent need to recover the materials, the techniques of working and processing of finishes, objects, buildings and to collect the few remaining authentic elements of the world of the city, the village or the way of life of the mature generations, referring here to the way of socializing, to their belonging to a community/group, to the way of working more manual/physical. We try to unravel the process of craftsmanship and appreciate the work of rare crafts in our world. All these searches make us associate this period with the 60s, after the thaw, after socialist realism is no longer imposed, but the openness to what was happening in the West is still too weak. The need for modernization makes artists and architects realize that the old will gradually disappear, so they start to collect old objects and exhibit them in their workshops, at which time they reflect on what they have collected and better understand the continuity of tradition and the need to innovate through a thorough knowedge of the details of an object. Today, to further enhance what was said at the beginning, there is The Ambulance for Monuments project in different regions and other non-profit organizations that fight for the preservation of old traditions, without freezing them in time, helping them to survive through innovativeness, through understanding the principles and applying them in a contemporary manner and through demand, creating the need, which is essential for the survival of any craft. We will talk about the socioeconomic impact that emergency interventions on monuments have, but also about how an ongoing site such as the restoration of the Petre P. Carp’s Manor House, the main part of the Crafting the Iron at the Manor! project (Batem fierul la conac!), can evolve.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp248-251.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/45/

Authors: Zenaida Florea

When discussing heritage in architecture, we often focus on buildings or areas with overtly valuable characteristics, such as historical age, urban context, cultural significance, or intrinsic aesthetic value. How-ever, there exists a less apparent heritage, often overlooked because it lies concealed within the depths of urban plots. In the context of dwelling, the architectural heritage of cities includes diverse modes of living that have evolved, persisted, and transformed alongside the buildings that house them. For the historical fabric of Bucharest, one of the most significant typologies is the wagon house, a model that emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While the construction period represents a fixed moment in time, the associated ways of living evolve gradually, reflecting the latent imprints of the city from different historical periods. The prominent spaces within these houses, those visible from the street, are complemented by a network of minor, hidden spaces that are essen-tial for their functional and formal coherence. This study examines the vulnerability of wagon houses and especially of minor spaces within them through selected case studies, analysing patterns of urban densification that have impacted them. By revisiting these examples, the paper proposes an alternative approach to urban densification, emphasising the signifi-cance of minor spaces as cultural heritage in sustaining the character and of historical urban fabric.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp252-255.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/46/

Authors: Simina Haiduc

Architectural obsolescence acts as a catalyst in the process of abandonment, exerting a considerable influence on the destiny of built heritage. In the context of military edifices, this concept pertains to the decommissioning of a building, due to its inability to remain aligned with the fast-paced advancements in technology. Military built heritage is frequently the subject of abandonment due to ignorance of its patrimonial values, the absence of adequate protection measures and a lack of community engagement. The consequences of this type of anthropogenic disaster affect both the tangible and the intangible values of these structures, lea-ding to: fragmentation, collapse, vandalism, loss of symbolic identity and disconnection from the urban fabric. The current state of the Bucharest Fortress, designed by H. Brialmont, reflects the narrative of an unfulfilled destiny. The disarming of the fortifications in 1916 marked the commencement of decay and decline, resulting in the abandonment of the majority of the ensemble. Conversely, the defense belts built by the same general in Belgium, during approximately the same period, have been revitalised as a result of community involvement. In the light of the aforementioned cases, this essay aims to showcase a comparative analysis between the current state of Brialmont’s fortifications in Romania and Belgium, with regard to the role that community plays in the valorization of built military heritage. The paper will be developed by means of bibliographic, historical and comparative research, focusing on how participatory initiatives, linked to preservation and adaptive reuse, can instill a sense of ownership and facilitate the cultural integration of the Bucharest Fortress, based on the successful examples of Liège, Namur and Antwerp. This study is essential for highlighting the vital role that communities play in the fate of abandoned military built heritage, representing the pivotal factor, able to revitalize the Romanian fortification belt.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp256-259.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/47/

Authors: Valerio Tolve

The relationship between old and new is one of the main theme of contemporary architecture. The comparison between the contemporary city, the ruins of archaeological complexes, the myth of their, is however a controversial theme. It’s always destined to find a new balance, since the Modern time, when archaeology was defined as an autonomous discipline with respect to architecture. Since then we suffer for the ‘fatal separation’ between architecture and archaeology: united by the same desire to question time and shapes, but separated due to the outcomes of their re-searches. If the first, in its most enlightened expressions, proposes to carry on the deep meaning of crumbling shapes through new logical-syntactic compositions, the second limits itself to “reconstructing the history and art of remote times through the remains of the past, on which it bases a series of reflections, reconstructions, interesting conjectures, highly scientific, but absolutely infertile for life”. The most orthodox interpretation of archae-ology leads to the conservation as a static form of knowledge, crystallizing the event in the suspended time of a still-image. But when architecture applies in the concrete of a layered site, it should instead lean towards a perspective of renewed knowledge that admits the re-construction as a tool to reach the intelligibility of the underlying potential shape.

In order to the main topic of this conference this contribution aims to show how it’s possible today work on the relationship between old and new not only for conservation reasons, rather to add ‘something new’ that can explain ‘something old’. One of our recent project is a paradigm which thinks on the ontological relationship between architecture and archaeology. The goals of the project is understand and renew the urban and landscaping relationships that have historically characterized the image of these sites.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp260-265.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/48/

Authors: Carlo Gandolfi, Andrea Valvason

What is the meaning of “tradition” and what role might it serve in contemporary practice? Trying to answer these questions, the text explores the interplay between tradition and innovation in the context of architectural regeneration. The discussion focuses on the Sant’Agostino Complex in Comacchio, Italy, a competition project aiming to redefine the relationship between historical preservation and contemporary intervention. The design integrates the site’s historical elements with new, context-sensitive architecture, creating a multifunctional space that bridges urban, cultural, and social needs.

The competition highlights the duality of architectural contests in Italy: their potential for interdisciplinary creativity versus systemic inefficiencies. Despite these challenges, the project leverages the competition as a critical tool to propose alternative visions for urban regeneration. It emphasizes the role of architecture as a medium for cultural dialogue, sustainability, and innovation.

The design strategy incorporates historical and morphological analysis of Comacchio, respecting its canal-based urban fabric and monumental heritage. The program features a theater, cultural spaces, a hostel, and artisanal workshops, linked by a cohesive architectural language and sustainable materials. Phased construction ensures feasibility while addressing environmental and social needs.

By critically reinterpreting the competition framework, the project trans-forms constraints into opportunities for experimentation. It underscores architecture’s role as a transformative force, offering a sustainable, tradition-conscious model for urban and cultural renewal.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp266-269.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/49/

Authors: Giovangiuseppe Vannelli

The Giunti Odeon in Florence is a remarkable case study when rethinking the relationships and boundaries between heritage and innovation. The contribution will deal with a modern heritage and the concept of innovation will refer to its technical aspects but above all to its cultural and theoretical dimensions. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the former Cinema-Theatre housed in Palazzo dello Strozzino underwent a financial crisis. The latter has represented the opportunity to reinvent this place, a heritage protected by the Ministry of Culture and deeply rooted in the collective memory of the inhabitants of Florence who fought to defend the cinema’s function. Following its opening to the public in 2023, the majestic space restored by Studio Benaim houses in an almost sacred atmosphere a cinema and a bookshop that seem to define an extension of the outdoor public spaces. The complexity of the proposed programme, addressed through a project that appears rigorously elementary, is the strength of a proposal capable of combining economic sustainability, social demands and above all architectural values. The two functions overlap in the central space of the ancient palace inducing silence and respect for the users while working, eating, shopping, reading, watching films or just wandering. Considering that the uncontrolled diffusion of streaming platforms for movies and series has put the Foucauldian heterotopia of cinema currently at risk of disappearing, beyond the various and valuable adaptive reuses of underused architectures as movie theatres, Studio Benaim’s Giunti Odeon appears as a spatialisation of the concept of “hypertopia”. In this sense, the case study will be discussed to demonstrate how a different and inno-vative approach to the modern heritage of heterotopias is possible if the boundaries of design are challenged through a complex design approach that demonstrates a cultural innovation that enhances differences and promotes coexistence.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp270-273.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/50/

Authors: Daniel N. Armenciu

Safeguarding architectural heritage is a pivotal concern for professionals within the architectural domain. Particularly in Romania, discussions surrounding this issue are prevalent among experts. However, the effective management of heritage assets - including implementing strategic political frameworks for their development and valorisation, consistent financial support, and cultural promotion - remains challenging and needs improvement. This article aims to contribute an academic perspective on managing heritage sites through the lens of sustainability, thereby highlighting both conventional and contemporary methodologies that support specialists in historical monument management in their en-deavours to preserve and enhance heritage assets. The article will analyse both national and international literature, as well as introduce case studies exemplifying best practices to substantiate the need for a comprehensive and sustainable approach to heritage management. This approach necessitates a thorough consideration of intricate factors that influence sustainable practices. The primary objective of this study is to delineate the principles essential for redefining critical elements in the management of heritage sites. It seeks to illustrate that sustainable management of heritage properties extends beyond traditional methods and requires adaptation to innovative strategies. This shift not only ensures the preservation of cultural and historical integrity but also promotes the integration of these sites into contemporary societal contexts, enhancing their relevance and accessibility. Moreover, the article will discuss the role of technology and interdisciplinary collaboration in fostering sustainable heritage management, underscoring the importance of integrating scientific research, stakeholder engagement, and public policy to conserve and utilise heritage assets effectively.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp274-279.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/51/

Authors: Mihaela Pelteacu, Alexandra Diana Dunel, Alexandra Diana Stan

Based on archival research and theoretical studies this paper addresses the problem of the multi-storey apartment buildings in Bucha-rest of the 1930’s, highlighting them as one of the most significant typol-ogies in European urban housing history. Following clear principles that incorporate the new ideas of modern architecture along with the mentali-ties and the morals of the time, these buildings reveal a subtle relationship between tradition and innovation, that is to be discussed.

Concerning this matter, a work-in-progress collection of remarkable buildings, exponents of the open courtyard typology, will be reviewed centring the discourse on their typological autonomy and relationship with the urban space. The buildings to be discussed include Luterană 3 & Calea Victoriei 122 (by arch. Tiberiu Niga ), Luterană 5 & Nicolae Bălcescu 24 (by arch. State Balosin ), Vasile Conta 7-9 (by arch. Eugen Botez).

The courtyard, along with the distribution system, will be subjected to analysis through the utilisation of vectorised plans. This analysis will serve to identify and recognise the courtyard as a fundamental spatial device, operating at the level of building composition and plot insertion.

The architects explored various formulas for the courtyard, imagining it as a garden, entrance or street, double-crossing courtyard, terrace or

other combinations that have the potential to generate a variety of forms and paths. These qualities were no longer considered in housing projects carried out following the postwar years.

Making no distinction between public and private, placed in the extension of public space, the courtyard experienced its final moment of glory through this typology, after a tremendously, long history.

This paper aims to draw attention to the hidden figures of modernist architecture, encompassing the buildings themselves, the courtyards as distinct elements and the architects behind them. Furthermore, it seeks to highlight the worrying phenomenon of a significant architectural tipology (multi-storey apartment buildings with courtyards) becoming devoid of its original meaning at the level of urban practice and human consciousness.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp280-285.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/52/

Authors: Bogdan-Mihai Ioniță

This article is part of a series dedicated to highlighting the value of the national movable heritage, with a special focus on furniture created by Romanian architects during the 19th and 20th centuries, a crucial period for the formation and consolidation of the furniture design profession in Romania. The research is based on a rigorous analysis of primary sources, including field research, archival documents, and period publications, providing a comprehensive perspective on the evolution of this field.

Although furniture represents a significant element in the history of architecture, it has often been overlooked compared to architectural works, due to both its perishable and movable nature, and the prioritization of other aspects of built heritage. This study aims to address this oversight by offering a systematic evaluation of the contributions made by Romanian architects to the field of furniture design.

One of the key figures in this research is Nicolae Ghica-Budești, an architect recognized for promoting the revival of traditional Romanian architecture and the affirmation of the Romanian style in architecture. He was also a pioneer in furniture design, having a major impact on the development of this profession in Romania. The article provides a detailed index of his initiatives, analyzing various types of furniture and highlighting the essential role of the architect in the creation of design objects.

The paper incorporates both period images and the author’s sketches to illustrate Ghica-Budești’s contribution, who is considered the first Romanian architect acknowledged as a designer (Pittsburgh, 1943), thereby emphasizing his significance in the development of industrial furniture design in Romania.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp286-289.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/53/

Authors: Santiago Araque Collazos

One fascinating element that characterizes landscapes is the intricate relationship between human-made and natural systems, which, when integrated, can foster new ecological relationships or unique vernacular cultures adapted to their environment. It is this special relationship between nature and humanity that UNESCO defines as Cultural Landscapes. Due to their composition, these landscapes are subject to specific risks, conditions, and opportunities related to a variety of factors, such as environmental conditions, historical backgrounds, or socio-economic dynamics, which are often organized in large territories in complex systemic structures. Therefore, after the recognition of cultural landscape as a typology of heritage in 1994, many societies have worked to identify, conserve, and valorize cultural landscapes within their territories. One example is Colombia, which in 2011 achieved the UNESCO recognition of the Coffee Cultural Landscape (CCLC), consolidating one of the country’s most successful heritage valorization initiatives. This effort has produced important benefits both locally, for communities and ecosystems, as well as nationally and even internationally. However, in 2024, just a few kilometers from the municipalities that form the core of the CCLC, the proposal for a new cultural landscape in the southwest of the Colombian region of Valle del Cauca sparked significant controversy. Despite complex contradictions, especially due to the way in which the initiative was presented, this scenario could potentially contribute to the solution of existing historical regional issues. For this reason, the research analyzes this new cultural landscape initiative through the experiences of the CCLC, in order to discover the way in which these difficulties can be transformed into opportunities to consolidate, valorize and promote heritage role as a development tool in the southwest of Valle del Cauca region in Colombia.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp290-295.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/54/

Authors: Silvia-Ileana Costiuc

This purpose of this review is to recreate the affairs surrounding historical monuments during the 1970s in the Socialist Republic of Roma-nia – SRR, as described in The Bulletin of Historical Monuments – BHM after its resumption over a 25-year hiatus. Nicolae Ceaușescu’s state leadership begun in 1965, and an apparent independent and Western-oriented foreign policy was formed, meant to individualize the SRR from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Block. The BHM contains substantial international activity reports: brief news, reviews of foreign publications, notable international events organized by the SRR, interactions with UNESCO, activities of ICOMOS, other international conferences, professional visits of Romanian experts in Eastern countries and contributions by foreign researchers to the BHM. The most important category of articles refers to the consistent collaboration with the Center in Rome. The Center was formed during the late 1950s, as one of the most influential international collaborative networks, that eventually evolved into ICCROM. SRR was one of the pioneer countries involved in practical and scientific collaborations in the field, alongside with the Rome Center. On one hand the articles addressing international affairs reveal that the Romanian professionals were highly involved and connected with their western peers. On the other hand, the most significant international legal agreements established be-tween 1947 and 1989 were accepted in Romania only following the collapse of the Totalitarian Regime in 1989. From the international activity and the advancement of the field during that period, it emerges that, indeed, the quality of the works and professionalism in the field of restoration reached a peak, followed by a sudden interruption.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp296-301.pdf

Architectural Experiences 1 (2025). https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/issues/2025-1/55/

Authors: Oana Diaconescu

Since the beginning of the last century, the term stratigraphy has been associated with archaeological research through various references to the analysis of all the layers constituting a preexistence.

The historical monuments present this duality by which the exterior and the interior can initially be studied separately, to recompose the reading of the whole in a second phase. The stratigraphic method is defined as an overlapping relationship between the disciplines of architecture and archaeology with deconstruction, which becomes the analysis key to understanding how the interior space was designed. The process by which an element, structure or construction is initially decayed for examination and later recomposed is part of a quasi-repetitive, mathematical investigation system.

The present article intends to emphasise the analytical way each addition, completion or modelling of the original material may be revealed and interpreted by explaining and defining the stratigraphic method. Such an approach often appears in contemporary interventions associated with historical monuments, where the material limit of each layer is clearly demarcated. Like the hypothesis of Christian Norberg-Schulz, taken from the Swiss theorist Heinrich Wölfflin, Scarpian architecture, for example, does not consist of simple geometric shapes but starts from an overall spatial vision, a “topology”, in front of which the detail becomes a subordinate element.

In-depth knowledge of all the elements that make up the interior architectural space is comparable to deciphering an archaeological site. Using a grid that repetitively sequences any structure, it will be possible to identify each intervention’s meaning and importance over time by juxtaposing the negative (gaps in the material) and positive (traces in the solid), respectively, of memory and anti-memory spaces.

Thus, it can be considered that the interior architectural space is con-stantly fighting between the closed-tectonic Piranesian forms and the open, poetic ones represented by its original essence. We can associate the stratigraphic method with Franco Purini‘s definition of the design practice as a composition of elements. It can be thus considered that the interior architectural space is constantly fighting between the closed-tectonic, Piranesian forms and the open, poetic ones, represented by its original essence. We can associate the stratigraphic method with Purini‘s definition of the design practice as a composition of elements and implicitly an a priori knowledge of all the context fragments.

https://architectural-experiences.uauim.ro/s/f/a/AE_Journal_2025_pp302-306.pdf