What do an (apparently) interwar modernist apartment block, a semi-rural house with a flower garden, both in Bucharest, and the opulent official residence in Suceava designed by the famous architect couple Nicolae and Maria Porumbescu have in common? They all defy the logic of totalitarian-era housing – serial, uniform, mass-produced.<\/p>\n
Non-standard dwelling in Romania between 1945 and 1989 is little known and a lot more varied than we would believe. There are private dwellings for engineers, doctors and architects, the regime elite’s residences, tiny houses yet with their proud own yard, tourist accommodation units or just unique apartment buildings in central locations. Their story is one of unexpected continuity, of architectural and cultural values that both describe and transcend the regime in which they were produced.<\/p>\n
This is a book<\/strong> on drama, subversion and courage, on individuality and solidarity, on architects and their clients, on privilege, exclusion and doing a lot with very little. We travel to Bucharest, to the cities of Cluj, Timișoara, Craiova, Suceava and to the sea.<\/p>\n Some of the examples are great architecture in their own right: they were created by unknown architects, but also by local 20th century masters: Haralamb (Bubi) Georgescu, the architect couples Porumbescu and Mircea și Cleopatra Alifanti.<\/p>\n The works are documented through architecture, history and anthropology texts, new and archive pictures, as well as redrawn plans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n\t