Cluj Architecture

The desire for an overview of the work of architects from all over the country, with multiple implications in related fields, mainly cultural, is a constant concern of the Union of Architects. Arhitectura magazine inaugurates with the special issue dedicated to Cluj-Napoca a series of presentations of regional architecture, polarized by the country's large cities. As clusters generating a command that goes beyond the strictly local interest to regional and sometimes national interest, often university centers with tradition, the big cities bear the expression of their own architecture - historical and/or current - as an unmistakable mark, which we try to bring back to the attention of the profession.

Cluj-Napoca enjoys a privileged geographical, economic and cultural situation. The landscape of rolling hills endowed with a favorable climate describes the first matrix of local values - a place where history has written some glorious pages. History can be felt and breathed in Cluj, just like culture. The Babeș-Bolyai University, with its European tradition, is the fundamental formative factor, as is the lively and vigorous local spirit, the founder of culture and self-expression. In this fertile soil, the current topicality brings the fresh air of new trends, taken up with enthusiasm by the young generation of architects. Last but not least, the seriousness of the Ardean (whether adopted or not) is also reflected in the field in which we work. To give just one example, the period of communist dictatorship in Cluj produced monuments of functionalist architecture, through the work of the architect Vasile Mitrea (Moldovan by birth, but a native of the Ardean region by consistency), whom we bring back to the pages of the magazine with all our consideration.

A global overview of architectural activity in the area of influence of Cluj-Napoca would have been too ambitious a project. We chose to present the trends that animate the emerging generation of architects, bearers of local hopes. Ten workshops of young architects from Cluj, the subject of our selection, express - through their design activity and cultural participation - the fundamental directions of the local spirit. A first observation is that the rising generation of architects is not so much expressing the Cluj school of architecture as the local connection to a wider reality. The most topical feature of the new generation in Cluj is the extreme openness towards European trends, in a unique symbiosis with the reformulated local specificity.

In order to disseminate the message of architecture more widely in the cultural environment as a whole, we are trying to overcome the elitism and isolation of the specific discourse of the profession by bridging to related fields. Thus, we initiated a 10-question test on the perception of architecture, to which architects, philosophers, sociologists, scenographers and others were kind enough to respond.

Of course, we were only able to give a kaleidoscopic and partial picture of architecture in Cluj. In the hope that our endeavor sheds light and arouses sympathy, we wish you a pleasant reading!

The article is part of the special issue of ARCHITECTURE de Cluj