Henrieta Delavrancea Prize, 2023 Arh. Militza SION

"I have practiced architecture for over 50 years, side by side with fine arts. I have tried to suggest explosive dynamics embedded in images, the 'nothingness' of the human condition manifested through urban creations lost in time and space."

Militza Sion

The Henrieta Delavrancea Prize is awarded for the first time at the current edition of the National Biennale of Architecture 2023, honoring an exceptional female presence, who has distinguished herself both for the projects she has developed and for her attitude and morality, her combativeness: the distinguished lady architect Militza SION.
Throughout her career, Mrs. SION has courageously, lucidly and empathetically mastered the dual gifts of architect and plastic artist, linking two worlds through her rich achievements: neither one prevailing at the expense of the other, but harmonizing them, lending them accents and revealing their co-presence.
A refined researcher, she offered us extensive and carefully curated studies on the architects Horia Creangă, Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory, Gheorghe Simotta, G. M. Cantacuzino; their painstakingly reconstructed histories are permeated by an obvious affection for the values embodied by the built, sometimes taking the form of an unbridled dialog.
The work also reveals, as a filament of the work, the marvel at the world and the perpetual practice of its profound observation, understanding and completion. As a natural complement to the Renaissance model, which she confesses to have as her standard, Mrs. SION has led administrative battles to stop acts of destruction of the Romanian architectural heritage, using the studies prepared as support for the declaration of the buildings of the aforementioned architects as historical monuments.
The award of the Henrieta Delavrancea Prize to the architect and painter Militza SION is thus also an expression of gratitude to the guild we represent for her elegant professional and personal example.

Four letters about a free man

I don't really know what to say about Militza Sion in order to concisely capture a multifaceted personality. To describe what she has done, how we met - it seems, for as long as I have been - somewhat independently of my own path as an architect, but intersecting at essential moments in my work, in my travels, in the walks and associated walks and chases, what I have learned from her, what windows she has opened for me, what works, what exhibitions, seems to me not to say enough and to me to be somewhat out of character. Because from the outset we are talking about a character, to be admired, loved, followed, perhaps sometimes contested, but impossible to ignore! From the tone of voice, accents, posture, undeniable presence, firm interventions, moral upright, I skip a resume and pass abruptly trying to capture the right measure of passionate tones in which Militza breathes with all her being.
Those who know her will quickly recognize her from a few words, but I am writing now for those who do not know her and will probably read this Arhitectura magazine. Who was first awarded the Henrieta Delavrancea Prize and who is Militza Sion? Of course, Militza Sion did the exhibition dedicated to Henrieta Delavrancea. Who else but her? But she also did Horia Creangă, Gheorghe Sitmotta, G. M. Cantacuzino and many other personal exhibitions of architecture, graphics or painting...
I dare to say that, beyond those (not few) that Militza did, she was and still is the character to be admired in search of the character to be admired, the one who passionately collects an archive and does everything to pass on the gifts she received from those before her, she obstinately shows in order not to get lost. And then she looks for a new character to focus her admiration.
With frenzy and enthusiasm, Militza Sion is constantly and tenaciously on the lookout for subjects of admiration. An almost vital need to see, to be confirmed in what she sees, to create memories and an enormous openness to admire and enjoy everything of value. It is therefore not just about traveling, not just about working, not just about exhibitions. The character allows himself to be devoured by the "phylloxera", as she amusedly puts it: sick with admiration. From the difficult, very difficult moments, "I got out with beauty".
And when Militza Sion admires, she knows firmly what she admires, she reads, researches, criticizes, she comes out of the comfort of her own skin as if to play the role of the admired character. He can call you in the evening, at 10-11pm, to talk about Churchill, who, "Iulica, also painted, and he didn't paint badly"! About Picasso in all his guises, Richard Burton, Russell Crowe, Martha Argerich, whatever artistic vitality.
I'm decoding a little by adding something absolutely astonishing, but also enlightening. All this he did predominantly, furiously almost, at the age at which most people, after a successful career - architecture and graphics/painting - are thinking of retirement, of retirement. It would be fair to say that until the 1990s, at the age of 52, Militza - whose brother fled to Canada during the communist era - could not leave the country. Keeping it in place for a free man ("I am a free man" - the motto of her life) tormented her. It was not too late for Militza Sion, with this bitterness resolved and somewhat under the pressure of time, to fervently begin the life of recovery. She did architectural work on her own, traveled extensively and simultaneously was part of what was taking shape with the guild, as the first steps of the reorganization of the Union of Architects and the founding of the Romanian Order of Architects.
At 85 years of age, he still enjoys the opportunities that come his way - I would say that he challenges them - to be in the presence of beauty. "I've hit it like a hen to the bean", she often says, with a sly smile, penetrating eyes, a satisfied look, satisfied that someone up there loves her. And she's got the humor and self-mockery!
Something of her vital way of being has infected me too, and I bow with gratitude for the chance of the marvelous encounters she has generously given or mediated, with characters of uncompromising professional and moral rectitude, characters to be admired who have surrounded me with their caring. It is comforting to be called now, "Iulica dear", as Militza Sion still does. Dear madam, long live!

Iulia Stanciu

With an intellectual background marked by a generation of exceptional university professors, gifted with a native intelligence and a vocation for the fields of architecture and visual arts, Militza gave us not only architectural objects - many of them award-winning - but also images of her own plastic creation.
From the first category, architectural objects, we have selected some of the ones we have seen and those that have gained notoriety: the Civic Center Miercurea Ciuc; apartment blocks Bulevardul 1 Mai Bucharest (today, Bd. Ion Mihalache); Buzău House of Culture; Călan House of Culture - all built before 1990; after that time: Holiday Inn Hotel Sinaia, commissioned after winning the competition organized by UAR; Hotel Pensiune Călimănești; orphanage in Călărași; Străulești/Bucharest residential area; villas in Bucharest and so on.
Equally devoted to creative research, Militza also found creative satisfaction in conceiving and organizing exhibitions dedicated to personalities of Romanian architecture and art: G. M. Cantacuzino (1999), Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory (2002), Gheorghe Simotta (2003, 2017), Horia Creangă (2017).
This last-mentioned category of Militza's works has strongly highlighted an uncommon character trait: our colleague and friend belongs to the very rare and select category of people who, when they set out to do something, see it through regardless of the obstacles they encounter.

Alexandru Beldiman

I have known Militza since childhood. She is good friends with my mom. A watercolor of her has accompanied my life, on a wall in the living room since that time. A ship anchored on a freshwater shore, a pictorial work, not at all exact. Poetry.
Of course, I also knew his basic occupation, that of an architect, with many important accomplishments. Together with my parents, both architects (they had known each other since their student days), on a journey through the country, a route with several destinations, we visited several cultural houses designed by her. Then, as a child, from my mother's and father's professional discussions, I noticed and understood a lot about architecture in general, but, more importantly, I got to know Militza beyond that wonderful watercolor like her architecture, poetic, lyrical, but voluntary, beautiful, by no means sweet, with a certain free force that seduces you without caressing you in syrup, all harmoniously developed in a three-dimensional painting.
Militza's strength, her strength and stubbornness, her constant struggle against all obstacles (not only those specific to architecture in general, but especially in communism), a hard-won victory, with sacrifices, gave her the strength to go on to another battle, a chosen one... or the battle of life. A tireless architect, a winner with major successes, Militza has dedicated her life to this profession since her student days, alongside another great love. The same drive characteristic of restless passion also existed strongly in this parallel love, graphic art. Here, the art of architecture transfigured into a complexly structured, orderly aura existed, paradoxically, in this personal, spiritual, metaphysical creation, just as it existed and exists more and more strongly, day by day, in the highly valuable pictorial work that followed his graphic work. Militza is in front of the easel almost every day. On his days off he actively participates in UAP meetings, goes on working trips to the great cultural centers of Europe, to the nature of the gardens in the Hurez area, all of which culminate in themed evenings and exhibitions. She paints with fervor. Unbridled energies wrestle with the canvas even when some works are born easily (without reason). Others are elaborated, thought, but with the soul, with the thinking spirit. Intuition, spontaneity, reason, a certain gestualism, rapid automatic dictation, large, nervous, material, physical strokes, all intertwine to create that universe beyond body and fashion, deep and ateluric, metaphysical.
Art, be it architecture or plastic art, was the driving force behind the creation of Militsa, whose life, in general, was not an easy one, quite the contrary. Her soul, predestined to beauty, gave her both artistic and natural pleasures. Nature immediately and completely conquered her, she exulted in its enchantment...
Jovial, a great lady, totally natural, devoid of moralizing and conceit, she knows beyond sadness to burst into genuine, immeasurable laughter. We both burst out laughing, and that brings much light, much, much delight.

With much love, Razvan Luscov

My collaboration with Mrs. Sion began about 24 years ago, shortly after graduating from college. It was an exhibition that brought together the work of a passionate architect and a graphic painter. Since then, we have worked together on many exhibitions dedicated to the architecture of Creangă, Delavrancea, Simotta or G. M. Cantacuzino, architectural albums or personal exhibitions, as well as countless architectural projects on a wide variety of themes, from individual and collective housing to hotel, office, orphanage or monastery.
Thanks to her I learned the stories of the houses, of the people who lived in them, the history of charming towns such as Balchik, but also lesser known things about the life and work of these great figures of Romanian architecture, some of whom she knew personally. It was a real joy when collaborators, colleagues and friends gathered in the studio and began to bring back "architectural" memories of bygone times.
I must mention here that the lady is a passionate traveler. Every trip was a tour de force through the world's great museums and an encounter with architectural masterpieces.
And the most beautiful moment after these trips was when she would come into the studio and pull out a sketchbook from her quiver that I couldn't wait to leaf through. Sketches of Venice, Rome, Florence, captured by the eye enamored by Italian art. And if Pavarotti's voice echoed on top of it all, it was a real escape from the gray of everyday life.
Many of these sketches were later turned into exhibits on the shelves of various galleries in Bucharest, alongside other themes such as the pyramid, the road or the lake.
One of the images that springs to mind, as if taken from a movie, is that of the lady sitting at the piano, playing Chopin in the lobby of a hotel that became a reality from the project. Or the interaction with the teams of craftsmen on the building site when certain details were not finished to paper, and the lady's humorous conclusion that perfection is God's, ending any dispute.
We should also mention her passion for design and fashion, movies and books, but especially for the art of contemporary Romanian painters, whose fabulous studios I sometimes entered with her. Not forgetting the wonderful lakeside studio where Ms. Sion's architecture blends with painting and graphics, and where a new work is always emerging.

Emma Pîrlac

Architect Maria Militza Sion
Date and place of birth - November 6, 1938, Tg. Mureș
Member of the Union of Architects since 1965
Member of the Order of Architects since 2001
Works realized before 1990, author or collaborator (selective):
1978 -1989 Civic Center, Miercurea Ciuc, Housing blocks 300 ap., Bd. 1 Mai Bucharest, Buzău House of Culture, 600 places, Sibiu House of Culture, 800 places, Călan House of Culture, 400 places, Alba Iulia House of Culture, 600 places, Romanian Embassy in Sofia.
Works realized after 1990 (selective):
1992-1995 Holiday Inn hotel complex, Sinaia, 143 rooms, Ad. 24.000 sq.m., Orphanage Călărași, Orphanage Turnu Severin, "RC" office building, Hotel Pensiune Călimănești, Residential building str. Uruguay 23, Bucharest, Villa Bușteni, Villa Piatra Arsă, Villa str. Herăstrău 20, Bucharest, Villa Snagov.
2001-2008 Străulești residential area, 28 villas, P+1, P+4 blocks - 50 apartments, Zossima 43, Bucharest, N. Gogol 4, Bucharest.
2009-2010 Pătroaia Monastery Ensemble, Dâmbovița.
Organizer of architectural exhibitions
Author Centenary G. M. Cantacuzino 1899-1999, exhibition - architecture and travel sketches, Bucharest History Museum, 1999.
Author In memoriam prof. arh. Gheorghe Simotta, exhibition and catalog, "Ion Mincu" Institute of Architecture, 2003.
Author Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory, Arhitectura 1930-1940, exhibition and catalog, Librăria Cărturești, 2007; Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român, 2007; Muzeul Național de Artă al României, sălile Cretzulescu, 2009.
Author Horia Creangă, The Creed of Simplicity, National Art Museum of Romania, Cretzulescu Halls, 2012.
Co-author NEDESPESPĂRĂRȚITE DARURI. Architecture. Drawing. Painting, Galeria Romana, Bucharest, 2016.
Curator Professor Gheorghe SIMOTTA, Aromanian from Vlaho-Clisura, National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, 2017.
Curator Horia Creangă, Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory - modernity and tradition in the Romanian architecture of the 1930-1940s, University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu", Bucharest, 2019.
Personal exhibitions of graphics, painting
1966 - Union of Romanian Architects, Str. Episcopiei 9, Watercolors Images from all seasons
1970 - Union of Architects of Romania, Episcopiei Str. 9, ink, Impressions from China
1979 - Romanian Institute for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, AGIR, Relief
1983, 1986, 2000 - "Ion Mincu" Institute of Architecture - Structures, Cities, Retrospective
2005 - Jean and Sabina Negulescu Gallery, Bucharest, Architect Drawings
2006 - A2 Art Gallery, Timișoara, Homage to the Pyramid
2006 - Art Gallery, Timișoara, Travels
2013 - National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Between visual arts and architecture, exhibition and catalog
2016 - Roman Gallery, Bucharest, Solo exhibition painting
2018 - Roman Gallery, Bucharest, Solo exhibition painting - Atelier ROMA
2020 - Roman Gallery, Bucharest, Militza Sion, Atelier, guest Daniela Tutunea
Group exhibitions
Institute of Architecture "Ion Mincu", Fine Arts, photography and design, 1976

Small Salon Bucharest, 2011, 2012
Ligne&Couleur International Salon, Paris, 2011
Dialog Gallery, Sector 2 City Hall, October 2011
Sibiu - Architecture in Pastel, 2012.
Roman Gallery - Bucharest, Thinking of Paul, December 2016
Chisinau, Art Museum, In memoriam Paul Gherasim, January - February 2017