Thematic Dossier

National projects of European value

Thematic folder

Arh.Ileana TUREANU recommends
arh. Veronica VAIDA and arh. Eugen VAIDA

National projects of European value

"I ran in the Sibiu International Marathon to buy a monument ambulance." Eugen Vaida

caption><img src= I met Veronica and Eugen Vaida in Cluj, at the newly-introduced BNA Rural Awards Gala. Eugen participated as a member of the jury and Veronica was the speaker. I liked the Gala because it presented one of the most interesting sections of the NBI through a lively debate, with real issues, full of questions and hopes. I followed the professional activity of the young Vaida family, the Ambulance, the Guides and I had the chance to discover two genuine architects, passionate, competent, with solid values and thorough knowledge, with the desire and the power to transform the Romanian reality for the better. Rural heritage, ethnographic museums, saving endangered monuments are, for them, a passion and concern acquired not because they are trendy, but because they learned and loved them at home, with their grandparents, in forgotten villages. They are the new breath, so necessary in Romanian architecture and restoration. The Tile Factory and the Ambulance of Monuments are authentic, original ideas and programmes with European impact and value. Prince Charles was the first to recognize their value.

Eugen Vaida was born in Alțâna and is one of the most convincing promoters of local culture (traditional music and games, Saxon and Romanian houses with local specificities) which is driving the intensification of cultural tourism. His concerns in this field go back a long way: at the age of 16, he started collecting ethnographic objects and, together with his brother Stefan, a restorer, got involved by buying old houses to save them from destruction and bring them back to life through cultural projects. He seeks to identify solutions to improve the comfort of rural living from local resources. Eugen Vaida's ability to conceive and finalize cultural projects, his passion and determination, his frankness and originality are essential qualities.

Thanks to them, Eugen - who is also the owner of a rural ethnographic collection - has been elected by the owners of ethnographic collections and museums as the president of the RECOMESPAR association (Network of Private Village Ethnographic Collections and Museums) since its foundation in 2011. Eugen Vaida wants to give old objects a new life through use and imagines an eco-museum with hostels where old objects can be used again.

Because he is convinced that "Romania's heritage is deteriorating and disappearing with the passage of time", architect Eugen Vaida founded and chairs the Monumentum Association, an association concerned with the situation of rural vernacular architecture, the involvement of civil society in the rescue, promotion and valorization of cultural heritage and the situation of ecclesiastical heritage. Through this association he has built, initiated and developed a series of conservation and education programs, in close contact with local communities. He is also concerned with training architects and student architects in traditional crafts.

Eugen's life is divided between emergency interventions at historical monuments, programs with Transylvanian organizations supported by Prince Charles, collaboration with local craftsmen, summer schools with architecture students, coordination of the 55 regional guides, coordination of initiated cultural programs. Obviously, such a life can only be led with the help, collaboration and support of family, and Veronica is a partner to match!
As a member of the OAR Rural Group she initiated, together with the Contextual Design Guides (by ethnographic areas of Romania), a project to map Romanian folk craftsmen and traditional building products.

The Construction Craftsmen Map project was presented in Cluj by Veronica Vaida and Marina Gingirof. The map includes three categories: craftsmen, their products, summer schools supporting the crafts. The project involved a huge amount of work in collaboration with ethnographic museums, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and ethnographic specialists. The project contributes to raising the quality of rural architecture.

Because the Romanian village is in danger of losing its substance in the maelstrom of globalization and general indifference, because there are over 600 listed buildings in Romania in a state of collapse or pre-collapse, because there is no reliable and consistent state funding, I find the professional and social work of architect Eugen Vaida not only remarkable and commendable, but vital and of national importance.

Veronica VAIDA (b. 1984)

2009 - graduate of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu", Bucharest, with the dissertation "Memory at the edge of the everyday" and the bachelor's thesis "Memorial Museum of the 1918 White Counterrevolution, Yaroslavl, Russia"

Eugen VAIDA (b. 1981)

2007 - graduate of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" Bucharest, with the dissertation "Space in the literature of E. T. A. Hoffmann" and the bachelor's thesis "The Saxon Cultural Center "Samuel von Brukenthal", Sibiu"

AWARDS

2017 - Mention in the AFCN Awards Gala for the project "Ambulance of Monuments"
2019 - Award of Excellence in Culture of the county of Sălaj, for the project "Ambulance of Monuments"
2019 - First Prize in the Culture and Education section at the Civil Society Gala for the project "Ambulanța Monumentelor"

PROJECTS

2011 - Villa Abbatis Riding Center, Apoș, Bârghiș commune, jud. Sibiu
2013 - Traditional tile factory in Apoș village, Bârghiș commune, Sibiu county
2014 - Coordination of the project Veni, Vidi, Viscri. A practical lesson in protecting the immovable cultural heritage
2014-2018 - Coordination of the Integrated Project of restoration and revitalization of Daia village, Apold commune, Mures county (interventions on 120 historical buildings)
2015-2018 - coordination of the workshop Craft and Heritage. Tiling in the vision of architects
2016 - Exhibition center for historical tiles in Apos, Bârghiș commune, jud. Sibiu
2016-present- coordination of the Monuments Ambulance program - interventions on 23 historical monuments
2016 - coordination of the project Fritz Balthes. A pioneer of contextual design, which resulted in the classification of seven buildings in the List of Historical Monuments
2016-2018 - coordination of the restoration workshop Casa cu har de la Topârcea, jud. Sibiu
2017-2018 - Health and Alternative Therapy Center in Nocrich, jud. Sibiu
2017 - coordination of the Heritage Valorization Plan, through Global Heritage Fund and Monumentum Association
2017-2019 - coordination of the project on the elaboration of 55 Architectural Guidelines for the local specificity in rural areas, realized by OAR
2018-2019 - coordination of the project Mapping traditional and emerging trades and derived products in the field of construction in Romania (Map of Construction Craftsmen), realized by the Romanian Association of Craftsmen (OAR)