16 oct – 19 nov @ Casa Mincu / 17 oct. – BCU Carol I
This project is talking about Cinderellas: can be significant, beautiful buildings, left in a bad shape, or buildings with little or no significance, partly destroyed constructions, abandoned and forgotten, materials cast aside or fragments of long gone houses. The ‘fairy godmothers’ are the owners, the urban explorers, architects and designers, various artists , dedicated communities, business partners or people from the local administration – they discover their potential and toil with them; the metamorphoses deliver some of the most intelligent, responsible and poetic projects of late.
Besides extravagant constructions (usually desisted by the crisis), in Romania there are more and more interventions that make meager things turn into useful, shining accomplishments. Recovery is about ethics: more often than not, it is more convenient and sustainable to keep and upcycle than to destroy; from the point of view of conservation, the official (and protected) heritage includes only a small part of the countless orphan buildings and areas; better care today, from the community, means saving the official heritage tomorrow.
Recycling isn’t just a trend, after all, it is a comeback to a fundamental architectural and social method. Most of us still have a fundamental idealistic-conservative perspective towards the past that created immovable, reputable values. We haven’t had that many intangible monuments, as a matter of fact. Practically all that we inherited is the result of overlapping interventions over initial constructions, generations of shaping up and adaptation.
By recovering buildings, we recover cultural values – without anti-modern outcries and absurd stylistic efforts. Maybe this is why there is something fascinating in the act of repairing, in the re-composition, re-invention, minimal and efficient action on an existent ground.
Exhibition
16 oct. – 19 nov. 2013 @ Mincu House – Bucharest
We ourselves, here at Zeppelin, are so captivated by it that we didn’t resist the temptation to put together a new exhibition: following last year’s “Old Houses”, about heritage buildings, this year we explore the stories of blossoming Cinderellas: factories, garages, left over pieces from houses, and many, many others in exhibition “Recoveries”.
Conference
17 october 2013, 5.30 pm @ “Carol I” Central University Library – Bucharest
Speakers
- Jan Mannaerts (360 Architecten), Belgium
- Cosmin Pavel și Cristina Constantin (Abruptarhitectura)
- Elias Messinas (ECOWEEK), Greece & Israel
- Șerban Sturdza (Prodid și Pro Patrimonio)
Organizer: Zeppelin
In partnership with: Romanian Chamber of Architects, “Carol I” Central University Library
A cultural project financed by the Administration of National Cultural Fund
Partners: Rigips, Reynaers
Sponsors: Lafarge, Velux
