Text: Constantin Goagea
The crew is ready to take off, the people have fastened their belts in their seats (or in a comfortable coach or against our school’s famous radiators) and are ready to read zeppelin. Dear readers, we should tell you that from among thousands charming stories the name under which our journal has been picked to go on signifies the capacity to soar, to dare high, and to meditate. We have found zeppelins and architectures in the Instant City project by Archigram, in the Schuiten and Peeters’ cartoons, in old movies, fabulous drawings and in a multitude of other situations. We fell in love with the metaphor, poetry built in the sound of it, with the idea of technologyoptimistic associations it urges, and with the privileged perspective on the city, you have, from this dirigible. Its bountiful imagery and retro futuristic content feeds us all and perfectly reflects the personal style of the crew in the nacelle, and as you might have noticed it for three years now it is a powerful engine of cultural life.
When we have started the project, we had in mind some cultural evenings in which we could mingle and discuss interesting topics and, why not, a way to cross all creative areas related to our profession. It has turned out to be a widely embraced idea. Therefore, our project went on smoothly from the evening we started the engines and met the first forty people. In the last years, we realized that we entertained over 6,000 friends for three years at these cultural parties. Meanwhile, three books came out and many exhibitions were mounted under this name. The 2010 Architectural Biennial was organized under the same little cloud-and-balloon. Let us not forget the Magic Blocks, Urban Report and other urban regeneration projects. That gave us a boost and made us think of choosing this name for all our projects. I would not exaggerate by telling that we have a reason to celebrate this year: 3 years since we have started.
You are welcome to cozy zeppelin evenings through this year too and, now this editorial project will emphasize and communicate with you more directly and intensely. The formula is zeppelin. Architecture. Spaces. Ideas. Thus, here we put into place our vision about a magazine that is supposed to be an enthusiastic observer and a constructive critic of the city, of projects, architecture events and the way we relate to history and take a responsible stand regarding future.
If you wonder about the old name, well, it will stay with the Union of Architects to which it belongs. As you know, “Arhitectura” came out first a hundred years ago as a publication representing various organizations and cultural policies; over the years, it knew more or less clearly defined positions. If you look back, it never remained the same from one generation to another, each generation choosing its own path, from conservationism and heated anti-modernism to the 1930s eclecticism and tempered modernism and from the communist age, when, believing in modernity, it tried to animate the overwhelming silence of those rough years, to the efforts it made through the 1990s. We have brought her back to life and dedicated almost 12 years from our lives, and met with ups and downs. “Dedication” covers the actual sense of the word, since we gave to this journal everything – from lofty thoughts, ideas, and format to our own hands and backs that carried it to bookstores in our early years. After long discussions, we came to an agreement with the Union that it is time we took different editorial directions. However, the zeppelin team, together with the Union, will itinerate the Biennial and organize local events of this project.
From now on, we take up this beautiful name: zeppelin. You know very well what we are up to and we know you will be on our side. Because we are committed to this work and respect those who bought and read our journal for the things they found there, for the architecture, design, and interior design works we featured, for the urban projects, for our public sapce interventions and activist projects, for the detailed layouts, sections, economic data about projects, for our theoretical articles and presentation of current events, we have chosen a new name. Yet, neither the project nor the people sustaining it have changed.
Have a good flight, buddies!
