ateliercetrei

ateliercetrei (spelled in one word, lowercase) is a democratic partnership practicing architecture, interior architecture, design, urbanism and cultural analysis, attempting to bring together academia and professional practice. The single-word spelling of the name symbolizes unity, while the lowercase letters recall the Bauhausian notion of non-hierarchical language, reinforcing the idea of democratic partnership.

The office is run by two partners responsible for the different ongoing projects - Anamaria Moldovan and Paul-Mihai Moldovan. They combine two different types of life experiences as well as internships in two different typologies of architecture/design offices. This results in a contemporary and eclectic form of architecture, which has its origins in the foundations laid since their architectural studies, as well as in the values and principles of traditional Romanian architecture.

Our work (products, spaces and theories) is intended to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of its users and is characterized by the high quality of the projects. The latter are developed from the first sketches to the execution/implementation follow-up. The same level of attention and detail is given to the whole spectrum of scales addressed: from object design to urban planning projects. Our work process is therefore a deeply collaborative one carried out by teams in which clients and/or beneficiaries become an integral part. The results are thus the best possible solutions that none of the team members could have conceived initially and/or individually.

At ateliercetrei, we love storytelling and believe that architecture is inevitably linked to their art, even more than concept or idea. The world, in fact, is woven from a string of stories, founded and built on people's deeds... We have chosen to present a series of 4 projects that reflect, on the one hand, this affinity for storytelling, and on the other, the broad spectrum of scales and programs we address.

Symbolon. Wedding rings

The design of the wedding ring(s) reflects the way we understand marriage... a mechanism that operates fueled not only by love, but also by a series of compromises. It is a "whole" resulting from the union of two people, and the only case where 1+1 adds up to 1.

Consequently, we conceived the wedding ring(s) as a "symbolon" (from the Greek symbállein - to put together), a way of recognizing and complementing each other. The wedding ring is made up of two halves which, when put together, give meaning to a life lived as a couple. Together they form a single wedding ring, separately, they remind each wearer of his or her other half.

I asked photographer Ana Rusu to capture the wedding ring and its halves one year after "giving them away" to make the passage of time felt through the surface scratches of the ring(s).

SPATJ

The project of rehabilitation and refunctionalization of the "Tudor Jarda" Folk School of Arts in Cluj-Napoca, or SPATJ in the office jargon, is at the intersection of architecture with interior architecture and rehabilitation with restoration. It is a project started capsularly in 2011-2013 and continued to the present, from which we have chosen two works of interior architecture that best illustrate its essence: the Sala Șantier, nominated at BATRA 2013, and the Sala de Joc Popular, awarded at BATRA 2015, both in the Interior Space Architecture and Scenography category.

Built at the beginning of the 19th century (1838) together with the eclectic ensemble of which it is part, the building that houses the two halls for cultural events represents an important stage of Cluj's industrial architectural heritage.

The halls were the subject of two different commissions. The first of them, the Sala Șantier, underwent a one-off 'capsule' intervention which, thanks to its success, acted as a generating/regenerating element, leading to the rehabilitation of the entire building. This was followed by the Studio Room of the former, the Popular Games Room, an implicit part of this rehabilitation.

The two spaces are interdependent. The Salle Studio has been conceived as a platform that can host theater performances, conferences, fashion shows, concerts, exhibitions, workshops, cocktail parties or various fairs. The Popular Play Hall is the "production workshop" that hosts rehearsals and pre-staging classes in the main hall, but it can also host stand-alone events if needed.

In order to meet the multifunctional requirements of the main hall, most of the budget has been allocated to the technical infrastructure and equipment, which has been divided into fixed and mobile systems. The Popular Game Room has a predominantly static character, so the emphasis was placed on materials and design elements with a role in the educational process.

The architectural concept for both halls was a unified one, based on minimal interventions with 'maximum effects', while taking into account the building's historic epic thread. The idea was to 'go back to the origins' and work with elements of the building, such as emphasizing the full brick masonry in both halls, the historic vaulted floor and riveted metal structure in the Popular Games Hall, the apparent preservation of the 1970s concrete structure of the ceiling of the Site Hall. The added elements were the solid oak hardwood flooring, oak veneered MDF panel acoustical wall, solid oak and veneered MDF panel wainscoting, seating and radiator masking furniture, mirrors, black chalkboard type paint, and fire retardant velvet curtain and draperies. These added elements emphasize the historic character of the rooms, contrasting the naturalness of the original materials. It was intended that, in terms of both color and materiality, the spaces created should allow cultural activities to take place without imposing the "personality" of the interior design.

One of the main concerns of our office, which constitutes both a dilemma and a challenge, is constantly devoted to the concepts of identity and tradition and the possible relationships between the two. The identifying elements of the rooms thus become the acoustic wall and the radiator masks, made of veneered MDF panels, perforated according to a graphic interpretation of the traditional Romanian folk stitching pattern used on the sleeve of the iei, "lunceț de unspreceze" or "albină".

LVM Castle

The restoration, enhancement and introduction into the tourist circuit of the 5th Macedonian Legion Castrum, Potaissa (Turda), is a tender with project solutions organized by the Municipality of Turda and won in the second half of March 2016. It is a project that gravitates around a series of punctual architectural interventions consisting of new buildings (Reception Pavilion, Belvedere Tower, Archaeological Research Campus) and structures designed to suggest the gauges of some of the built elements of the Castrum (Porta Decumana, Access Portal of the Command Building - Principia, a structure to cover and protect the ruins of the ruins of the castle's Terminus), but also calls for systematization interventions (parking platforms, bicycle paths and pedestrian trails) aimed at organizing the site in a conceptually, planimetrically and structurally coherent way so that the heritage in question becomes a public space capable of attracting social and educational capital.

Like the SPATJ project, the project story builds on the stories of our ancestors. Establishing a dialogue between past, present and future, the project explores the legacy of Rome, summed up in the phrase "urban civilization" and transmitted through the legions in the castles they built when and where they were driven by the desire to expand the republic and then the empire. Daily life in the castles was not as comfortable and opulent as in Rome or Pompeii and Herculaneum, despite the existence of urban amenities such as thermal baths and gymnasiums. It was a way of life characterized by rigor, order and discipline.

The question we asked ourselves was how exactly could we intervene around and over these traces of Roman civilization? The way of intervention chosen is one in which the proposed constructions, new as they are, allow the historical layers to be read without creating ambiguities and distortions. Constructions which, out of respect for our ancestors, like the way of life in the fortress, transmit a certain rigor, order and discipline and which, because of their number and interpretation, are similar to a campus... a family of objects whose role is to mediate the dialog mentioned above.

The solution lies in operating with the least invasive material (and its specific technology) for this type of intervention: steel and steel structures. They have the advantage of being able to be cast in isolation, prefabricated and therefore very easy to assemble, but more importantly, they are almost as easy to dismantle. They are characterized by their slenderness, allowing large openings to be obtained with few and elegant elements, which do not impose themselves through the mass of the footprint of the casthouse and thus have less impact on the ground.

Thanks to the aesthetic and structural possibilities, we have succeeded in creating a family of objects that resonate on two levels - new constructions and suggestions, and harmoniously dialog without being identical or radically different. This family is composed of two types of architectural objects: [1] those designed to respond to the tourist needs of the ensemble whose metal structures are behind the envelopes; [2] those that suggest the scale of former Roman constructions whose metal structures are exposed, like a skeleton. Color and texture come with the materials, and they are natural and, like the proposed volumetries, mediate the dialogue between past, present and future, through their ability to "age" in an elegant way.

The main access area, through the former Decumana Gate, coagulates 3 of the 8 architectural objects proposed by the intervention. They revolve around a public square-type space, with seating areas for grouping and regrouping before the visit, after the purchase of tickets or at the exit of the castle, as follows: the Pergola - on the north-west side, the Visitors' Pavilion - on the south-west side and the structure suggesting the size of the Decumana Gate - on the south-east side.

The Pergola serves as a meeting point, a pause before the start of the route or at the end of the route, before departure. It fits into the first typology of the family of objects, being a metal and wooden structure that protects against the vagaries of the weather.

The reception pavilion houses the tourist information point, audio-guide equipment rental area, ticket office, luggage storage, souvenir shop, food and beverage area, waiting area and restrooms. Like the pergola, it fits into the first typology of the family of objects and is also its generator. The bar-shaped building rests on 21 isolated foundations and is dominated by the digital pediment, whose role is to greet visitors in their own languages and to support a selection of their posts, likes, comments or hashtags with/about visiting the castle. The idea is to attract, promote and integrate the castle not only into the physical tourist network, but also into the virtual one, a world that is changing the whole set of societal mores, from how we work, think and feel to how we relate and interact with each other.

On the south-eastern side of the public space is the Decumanus Gate, which falls into the second typology of the family of objects and is also the generator of this typology - those whose metal structures are exposed, like a skeleton meant to suggest the size of the former Roman gate. Access to the castrum will be through the crossing of the gate, on the footbridges supporting the pedestrian platform and on the embankment behind the gate to avoid any contact with the traces of the former walls still visible.

The lookout tower, resembling a military assault installation, is placed so as to offer views over a radius of almost ^360o, particularly over the Principia (the command building), but also over the Thermes. The tower is clad in a brass-mesh envelope which, like a fabric, is permeable to the view, trying to make itself felt without imposing itself.

One of the elements that best illustrates the advantages offered by the use of the metal profile structure is the pavilion proposed for the protection and visitation of the Thermes. Its structure, similar to a pergola with large openings, which we have tried to support at as few points as possible in order to protect the ruins, allows the suspension of the walkways for the visitors. In this way, it provides a visitor route of approx. 170 linear meters that supports in only 14 points, without meeting the walls of the Thermae.