Opera Omnia Award arh. Vasile mitrea

For more than half a century, an architect born in Roman, in Neamț, and trained in Bucharest, has embraced Cluj, giving him an anthological career. On the occasion of the National Biennale of Architecture in 2023, the UAR awarded him the Opera Omnia distinction for the professional contributions of his entire career. The moment was received with great emotion by the awarded master, although it comes as no surprise to the Transylvanian professional community that the unreserved recognition of the role played by him in all the architect's planes of manifestation is no longer a surprise.
Vasile Mitrea has demonstrated an understanding of the city that has embraced all the forms in which an architect can manifest his training as a generalist. He has excelled as an urban planner, making a decisive contribution to the shaping of the best residential neighborhoods of the 1960s, which have not lost their admiration even today for their compositional qualities and the balance of public spaces designed according to the principles of modern architecture. As an architect, he was struck by the unmistakable tectonics of the telephone exchange building in the historic centre, a true demonstration of the power of 1970s architecture to dialog with the history of previous centuries. It continued with a series of remarkable university buildings, including the one that today houses the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning. He laid the foundations of university architectural education in Cluj, being the organizer and head of the school when it was founded. He continued as a professor dedicated to the whole range of disciplines of urban planning and, especially, landscape architecture. He developed a vision for the network of green spaces and designed several urban parks and gardens - if they had been realized, we would have a better Cluj today.
Vasile Mitrea was the leader of the organizations that brought together architects from Cluj and the region. He led and guided the Romanian Union of Architects branch and laid the foundations for the Romanian Order of Architects branch when it was founded. He participated in all the major debates dedicated to the development strategies of the city and the metropolitan area, having one of the most authoritative critical voices.
Architects of several generations have had the chance to have him as a role model, and the luckiest ones even as a mentor. A monograph should be dedicated to the architect Vasile Mitrea, which would not only collect on its covers the works realized, but also the projects attempted, complex studies and critical opinions.
In recent years, he has contributed to the most important books dedicated to contemporary urbanism and architecture and their modern foundations. All the memories and explanations of the breadth and particularities of the political, economic and ideological contexts should be printed, because in order to realize and impose projects of such quality, the architect painstakingly built up a vision, a reputation and a convincing consistency, without which neither his professional opinions nor the concepts he drew could have been taken into account.
Vasile Mitrea has shown us all and continues to show us what it means to be an architect.