A single-family dwelling made by Ene + Ene Architectura Office in a traditional area in Bucharest is spatially defined by a cross-section rather than a plan illustrating the discrete insertion.
Text: Ene+Ene Architectura
Photo: Radu Malasincu
This article was published in zeppelin magazin number 98.
The intervention on a site located in an old Bucharest district was an opportunity we wished to get and we were actually offered in 2006 by a house on Vasile Lascar Street. The land featuring a 10 m opening, northern and eastern dead walls and a bare parcel border to the south stands on a side of the street that still preserves houses dating as far back as the early 20th century, more and more insistently aggressed by the past 20 years’low quality architecture.
The design theme we faced included a young family home consisting of three members at that time. It was clearly defined along with the beneficiary, early in the process and some items were set as mandatory: an almost complete privacy in relation to the street, a maximum transparency to the private courtyard and an extremely fluid inner space. Our response to this set of requirements consisted in a house composed of underground floor + ground floor + two upper floors + attic, laid out on the street line and taking advantage of the parcel full width getting developed between its two edges.
The cross-section rather than the plan has been the tool to define the space here. A 3-meter alleyway connects the street and the backyard protecting the entrance, while providing a couple of covered parking spaces. By introducing this item, a complex inner space could be thus defined and up to the second floor it develops at half a level; in terms of connecting the underground, the welcoming hall, the living room and the kitchen, a half ramp serves as a mediator.
An ambiguous functionality purposely sought especially on the side of the basement and the ground floor spaces, as well as the relatively large areas, proved to be quite useful when for a short while, the house ran as a combined office and home pattern.
The facade to the street includes two openings, each trying in various ways to ensure the privacy required by the theme: at the 1st floor, a narrow width window shows a marked rebate which allows little visibility from the street to the inner space; at the 2nd floor, the window corresponding to the matrimonial bathroom is equipped with a 2-metre railing despite its generous size. The façade opposite the street is fully glazed at the ground floor level and provides a full visual inside / outside touch.
From a structural point of view, we intended to release the inner space, almost entirely, by placing vertical support elements – T-shaped pillars – on the side edges of the site. It actually meant a structural effort including a special treatment applied to the floors while opting for a casing solution, therefore.
Materials used are those belonging to the old neighborhood – gray plaster (spread all over in Bucharest), painted covering sheet, and also wood and expanded-sheet coated surfaces for the entrance gate.
The project has once again convinced us about the intricacy of making inserts into traditional urban sites. Our undisclosed desire aimed at getting connected to the experience of interwar architecture through contemporary means.
