“If architecture is our playground, its sizes and openness are the limits we want to overcome. Seen from outside and outwards, architecture acquires multiple meanings.” This is the main aim of this year’s Zilele Arhitecturii — or Architecture Days — organized by the Architect’s Student Association in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The event takes place May 15-18 and encompasses exhibitions, workshops, conferences, and more. What makes ZA 2013 unique is the venue: an organically flowing, wooden pavilion constructed by the architecture students themselves. Set in the heart of the historic city center, the four days are about “an architecture that approaches uncomfortable topics about close social architecture, about subtle interventions and depth studied proposals.”
Zilele Arhitecturii 2013
According to their website
“The Bohemian Garden project came from the desire to reinstate a portion of the important cultural heritage of the old Cluj-Napoca into the collective consciousness of the inhabitants. This much needed change will take place at Boema, a forgotten palace with a garden that grew wild again from so much carelessness. “The Mobile Park is our manifesto for the green spaces of Cluj-Napoca. The workshop participants have the mission to design a park with everything that a park usually has, from the design until the construction stage, but the mission had a twist: This park will be on a trailer bound to a tractor.” “My Home” is a project developed in collaboration with an architecture-related association called
“De-a arhitectura,” for children ages 6 to 12. The children will design and build models of squares, guided by association members and students.
Zilele Arhitecturii 2013
Another interesting workshop is the “
Blind Wall a la Cluj”, which is about small urban interventions that don’t “beautify the city”, but want to send a critical view on abusive public spaces that are occupied with economic or political purposes, which cause us to be indifferent to the true values of the surrounding area. During ZA 2013, well-known architects and speakers will hold conferences on different topics related to the domain of the built environment. Among these are James Horan, Massimo Alvisi, Mark Mückenheim, Moctar Ba, Carmelo Zappulla, Jim Segers, Andrea di Stefano, and Jos de Krieger.
Check the full list of speakers here: https://www.zilelearhitecturii.ro/en/conferinte.html The architecture event will also hold two main exhibitions:
“Post-Industrial Stories” and
“Pride and Concrete”. According to their website,
“Using alternative frameworks, the exhibitions propose the reactivation of some forgotten spaces and the motivation for a new form of use of the cultural spaces in the city. “The photography project, Post-Industrial Stories, is a study of the effects of the reverse process of industrialization in Romania. The two photographers move from city to city through mono-industrial areas in the country, look for stories, take pictures of the communities and spaces and explore the connection between the people and their environment.” 
Zilele Arhitecturii 2013
On the other hand,
“Pride and Concrete is a project about the recent transformations in the traditional villages, especially of those from Tara Oasului and Maramures, as a result of the going and coming of abroad workers. The project was published both in Romania and internationally in USA, UK, France and China.” ZA 2013 is a full cultural event, including concerts and parties, appropriately named “MuZA”, described as
“the music from Architecture Days, our series of concerts, parties and meetings that close each of the four days of events.” “Crossing Borders is our manifesto for adaptation, but also for a critical view, and what we propose is a change of mindset. We want to look outside the boundaries of architecture, of professional limitations, beyond the constructions and to propose exploration of how these limits can be exceeded for discovery and understanding of architectural shapes and alternative practices.” Official site: https://www.zilelearhitecturii.ro/en/index.html
Dates: May 15-18, 2013
Venue: Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Wooden Pavilion in Unirii Square
Organizer: AStA Cluj – Asociaţia Studenţilor Arhitecţi Cluj str. Rene Descartes, nr. 30, Cluj-Napoca
e-mail: office@astacluj.org, asta.cluj@gmail.com
web: https://www.astacluj.org Report written by
Oana Anghelache Enjoy what you’ve read! Support us and pick up one of our awesome T-shirts and hoodies today, Click the link
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