Call for papers ARHITECTURA no. 4-5/2014 - City’s Architecture/ Vicinity/ Vague

24.07.2014

Deadline September 8 2014. Essays and thematic articles: 1000-2200 words.

ARHITECTURA, official magazine of the ROMANIAN UNION of ARCHITECTS, established in 1906, suggests a theme file VICINITY / VAGUE / CITY’s ARCHITECTURE that will be published in the double issue no. 4-5 2014.

The city has become an important starting point in the quest for architecture.

Vicinity is the element that gathers people.

Both architecture and vicinity are hard to understand for a city inhabitant. Still they can be predicted and pre-visualized. The pre-determination of the vicinity and the architectural type are a consequence dictated by the market rules, by the developer, by different housing policies. For the vicinity to be an advantage and act as a moderator issue within the community, depends of architecture, design and the space quality.

We propose an approach on city’s architecture and vicinity distinctively because we value its recent relevance.

At a time of extreme urbanization, unharnessed urban growth has led many architects to rethink the way buildings are designed for the global metropolis. It is no longer practical or desirable to impose the standardized, idealized planning of the 20th century. Rather than viewing the city as a fixed entity, architects are now seeking direct inspiration from the existing urban environment and learning from its ever-changing state that resists predetermination.

The city, in all its complexity, has become a realm of invention and a space for possibilities where new designs can be tested. This is as apparent in the work that architects are undertaking in the informal settlements, or favelas, of Latin America, as in the more regulated spaces of Chicago, London or Tokyo. For more than five years in Romania many architectural studios work on demand-less designs. Gestures of such type are encountered in Bucharest, Timișoara, Cluj, Iași as well as other Romanian cities. This attitude displays the generative quality of the city. Such interventions and designs promote an architectural thinking that involves the city in the process of potential seizing and in the quest of opportunities in existing condition.

ARHITECTURA - the ROMANIAN UNION of ARCHITECTS magazine, established in 1906, takes pride in continuing the international collaboration with various professional and education institutions such to illustrate examples of excellent architectural practice and research throughout the world. We state the conviction that architecture belongs to culture, therefore we are committed to illustrate, comment and debate critically this domain.

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