Performing Arts Center in Seville - conversion of the former artillery factory

The idea of designing this Contemporary Performing Arts Center came as a sustainable solution to the problem of re-qualifying the former Artillery Factory of Seville, a 17th century  heritage building in San Bernardo area.

Before starting the project, I conducted a preliminary study which allowed me to check on one hand the compatibility of this new activity with the neighborhood and, on the other hand, the possibilities of converting this historic building without causing a loss of identity.

Therefore, my research focused on two main subjects:
            1. the field of  contemporary performing arts, as a hybrid domain pushed to unconventional places
            2. the building itself, from a historical, social and architectural point of view.

Comparing today's abandoned building with the Artillery Factory in relevant historical documents, I came to the conclusion that the major threats for this architectural composition were the improvised additions that affected in time the coherence.

After a detailed assessment of the architectural changes I took a series of decisions regarding the selective restoration of some relevant elements as well as the removal of non-valuable elements affecting the perception of the original building.
Through my conversion proposal the building gains back its main "patio", which had originally been designed as a key element of the composition.. In my project it becomes a flexible outdoor scenery that fully takes advantage of the surrounding industrial sight, including equipments like the old railway, which I involved in setting up the installations for our contemporary performances.

The east wing next to the major "patio" is subject to a complex insertion I suggested, which is meant to house a hall for indoor performances and visitors related facilities.
Taking advantage of the strategical position of this insertion that replaced a provisional warehouse, I linked the space dedicated to visitors to a top terrace, opening a great view of the spectacular roofing system and a vast panorama of Seville with its landmarks.

Retirement Home - Timişoara (Soarelui area)

This multi-residence housing facility intended for senior citizens is designed as a comfortable hotel-like composition. My concept adopts the specific urban pattern of the area, reassembling it along a main axis, based on rules that generate hierarchy and privacy.

This spine-like compositional axis works as an interior street cutting through the building. The whole becomes "a city within the city"
An urban square lies in the northern part of the plot, so that is where I positioned the main access point.
The upper floors of all four main volumes are exclusively meant for housing, while additional facilities and services are located on their ground levels.
The ground level of the 1st volume includes the administration, the 2nd volume has dining and leisure, the 3rd volume stands for healthcare and the last one accommodates the elderly that require special attention.
The level of privacy increases as one navigates through the building. A key role in this hierarchy is played by the interior and intermediary courtyards, each provided with clearly defined uses, so that each one serves a designated category of users.

  

B.L. Training Centre

The training center located Fârdea Village (Timiş County) is designed as a place for relaxing, bonding and developing team related skills.

The proposal consists of two wings intended for accommodation, headed to the woods, a dominant wing disposed perpendicularly that shelters the front desk, indoor leisure and training facilities, while the traditional rural houses at the street front have become the wing for dining and maintenance facilities.

The first and main yard of the complex has a more public profile, since it includes the parking and leads to every access.

The second yard is meant to stay closer to nature, isolated from the traffic, and to work as an outdoor "playground" for team-sports.

When scaling my proposal, one of my priorities was to not to step out of the local building proportion, in order to establish a dialogue between the building I "found" on the plot and the building I imagined there.

Recycled House

While not a true adaptive reuse project in that the given home mostly maintained its original use, the rehabilitation and extension proposal requalified old infrastructure elements throughout the new house, that includes an architect's home and studio as well.

The start point for this project was a poor condition one level home located in a quickly revitalizing neighborhood of Timişoara.

Being intended for an architect, the new design solution aims, apart of the consolidation works, to promote catchy interventions like the volumetric play, the guiding elements on the facade or the comfortable shading devices.

From a functional point of view, in the new house the work zone and the living zone are organized on different floors, in order to keep services at the reach of clients and to respect the architect's everyday privacy.

YKK Community Learning Centre

"YKKuntz" started as a team project whose main target was finding the proper way to integrate an isolated and discriminated community in a larger social unit. In order to avoid arbitrary decisions, our team run a survey in the different communities regarding the locals' real needs.
As illustrated above the proposal aims to speculate the opportunities of zipping three neighborhoods together by generating a new urban pole. We decided to design a public square including a healthcare center, an events center and a learning center. At this point each team member had to focus o a specific facility and develop it further on.

YKKuntz Learning Center creates the opportunity of interacting within the frame of vocational training.
On one hand, people from different communities get a new chance to interact with one another as attendants, on the other hand they become able to exhibit the products they craft during their practice classes regularly, at various public events.
In conclusion, this learning center is encouraging discriminated youngsters from Kuntz area to let their skills speak for themselves in order to gain the appreciation and respect of other communities.
Therefore, the architectural representation of this whole idea is based on combining education and day care facilities intended for attendants (classrooms, workshops, dining hall) with a welcoming interface that introduce their activities to visitors from outside their community. This interface includes a front desk, a cafe and space for meetings, workshops or exhibitions.

Architecture Studio Concept - celebrating A. Loos

The most challenging issue regarding this project was the small and restrictive area to be built. Therefore, this office including work space for 7 architects and technicians, complementary facilities and exhibition space had to fit an urban plot measuring 14x16 meters, surrounded by 6 meter tall walls on each side. Moreover, a 6x6 meters interior courtyard was required in that certain position.
Being a  tribute to Adolf Loos, the whole desing follows the definition of “Raumplan” and obeys the architect’s vision of his work: "My architecture is not conceived in plans, but in spaces -cubes [...] For me, there is no ground floor, first floor etc. [...] Storeys merge and spaces relate to each other.” (Adolf Loos, Shorthand record of a conversation in Plzeň (Pilsen), 1930)

Urban insertion – Timişoara (Elisabetin area)

This project aims to reload the basics of traditional row housing in the context of a contemporary urban insertion. The proposal comes to fit the needs of a 3-member family that runs a small medical office. The formal and functional decisions taken during the design process were mostly conclusions of a preliminary study about the neighborhood.

The house is designed in a way to encourage further row housing development on the right side plot, whose layout  is different and its street front was left unbuilt.
Therefore, the house I designed stretches from one end to the other along the front edge of the plot and the access is sheltered by a green articulation that works as a filter between public and private space.
On the left side of this articulation lays the main part of the residence (ground floor and 2nd floor), as well as the medical office (semi-basement). The second floor houses the main and the visitors’ bedroom.
The child’s room lays on the right side of the articulation (2nd floor) above the garage (ground floor), so that the “green filter” terrace provides a shady leisure space for all inhabitants/visitors.

Green Events Centre on the channel shore - Timişoara

Expo Bega is a proposal for a green event & permanent exhibition centre, focused on ecology and renewable energies. The venue includes cafes, floating terraces and the park-like roofing is designed for leisure and outdoor educational activities.

The shape of the building comes to symbolize water and its interior splits into three aisles that provide a flexible use of space.
Each aisle works as a wave-shaped self-standing structure, whose curls are welcoming visitors at one end, while the opposite end  melts into the lawn. The access is also highlighted  by a smal urban square located towards the Eifel Bridge. Due to this orientation “Expo Bega” takes advantage of the main flow of pedestrian traffic.
On the inside, this event and exhibition center is designed as a global container. Small red functional boxes are spread halfway along the aisles. Direct access to water is provided, so that visitors can get to the floating terraces just by crossing under the seawall.
The wavy, earth sheltered exhibition and events center ends into a small, private amphitheater, while green terraces and photovoltaic glazing sit on the top,  open to public.

Mixed use housing

This is a proposal of combining living and retail in the context of an abstract urban square. The house is designed for a family that runs a flower shop and lives together with a grandmother/grandfather on the corner plot of a row-house block.

The flower shop and related facilities are located on the ground floor, so that a maximum exposure to public is provided through the corner commercial access. Located also on the ground floor, the grandmother’s bedroom is easily accessible.

The residential access is intended to connect the grandmother’s room, the 2nd floor apartment and the attic (space for rent) to the urban square, while the garage adn the flower shop dependings are just discretely linked to the stair case, due to their backside position.