Architecture Days - Crossing Borders Cluj

15-18.05.2013

If architecture is our space of unfolding, its dimensions and openings are the limits that we want to cross. Seen from the outside and towards the outside, architecture takes on multiple meanings.

Crossing Borders is our manifesto for adaptation but also for a critical vision, and what we propose is a change of mentality. We want to look beyond the boundaries of architecture, beyond the limitations of the profession, beyond construction, and propose to explore the ways in which these boundaries can be transcended in order to discover and understand alternative forms and practices of architecture.

Crossing borders is about an architecture that tackles uncomfortable subjects, about an architecture that is close to the social, about subtle interventions and deeply studied proposals. The architecture we are looking for can perfectly overlap with the social framework it represents, but at the same time offer different visions for the society in which it manifests itself. It is the critical attitude of how we relate to our own limits.

Collective Etc., James Horan, Jonas Lencer, Ateliermob, Massimo Alvisi, Francesco Lipari, Mark Mückenheim, Giorgos Mitroulias, Chris Williams, Jos de Krieger, Moctar BaCarmelo Zappulla, Jim Segers, Ger Duijzings, Andrea di Stefano, Mariana Pestana, Cătălin Berescu, Liviu Mihaiu are just some of the names of those who gave lectures at the event. The lectures aim to question the things we are used to. We aim to look at architecture outside its boundaries, analyze different perspectives and ask the right questions. Seen and experienced from the outside, architecture can take on a whole new meaning. At the same time, architectural practices that relate to related fields can offer alternatives. The question comes down to where we choose to situate ourselves.

Crossing boundaries for a 'common good'?

Every period of crisis comes with a turn towards the 'social'. Society must be reformed, the economy must be reformed, our daily lives must be reformed. And, in the tradition of the modernist architects of the 1920s, everyone wants to be at the vanguard of this reform. In the 1920s, the architect was the savior, but today we speak of collaborative practice as the savior. The architect is no longer alone. A multitude of professions are working together for the 'common good'. What unites them? How important is ideology in connecting these professions? How and, more importantly, WHY do these different people work together and what is the "common good" they seek?

Emmanuelle = Guyard, Maxence Bohn - Collectif etc. Jim Segers - Citymine(d) Cristi Borcan - studioBASAR Moderator: Dragoș Dascălu

Digital architecture and Amara's Law

Amara's Law says that "we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short term and underestimate it in the long term". With the advent of the computer and its ever-increasing processing power, there has also been an impact in the world of design. Whether you are a student at an architecture school, a practicing environmental engineer or a product designer, the computer is certainly now at least part of the design process. But how significant has this impact been? Has it merely accelerated our design processes or has there been a more fundamental change? Parametric design, digital manufacturing, 3D printing, integration and optimization. Will these ideas remain in practice? And what comes next?

Dr. Chris Williams - Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering Bath University Andrea di Stefano - AION Architecture Moderator: Dragoș Naicu - Bath University

Housing inequality: civic participation and social responsibility.

Topics discussed: - How are social inequalities manifested in the forms of housing in urban areas; - How are dwellings in marginalized precarious areas built and how is their functionality ensured; - What should be the role of the state in providing decent housing for low-income people?What should be the role of civic participation in the management of the housing stock; - What should be the involvement of the professional community of architects in the issue of the right to decent housing; - Case study on precarious marginalized housing: the situation in Pata-Rât, Cluj-Napoca. What structural problems of Romanian society are reflected in the Pata-Rât case?

Guests: Cătălin Berescu, Adrian BordaModerator: Cristina Raț