The ŞURA Project and its Architects: Winners at the 2023 Architecture Biennale

We are proud to announce that the “ŞURA – Laboratory for experimentation and inclusive civic engagement” project in the village of Archita, undertaken by the Mihai Eminescu Trust (MET) Foundation alongside architects Cristina Constantin, Cosmin Pavel, and Ionuț Nedelcu, is a joint winner (along with another architecture project from Timișoara) of the “Heritage Recovery and Identity Interpretation” section of Romania’s National Architecture Biennale 2023 (BNA). Separately, MET President Caroline Fernolend was selected as one of three jury members judging entries to the “Architecture Summer Schools, Creative Camps” category of the BNA, alongside Ana Maria Goilav and Maria Duda.

The BNA is the Romanian architects’ guild’s most important professional event, organized consistently every two years since 1994 by the Romanian Union of Architects. The name “National Architecture Biennale” is a registered trademark of RUA and reflects the national scale of the event and broad range of submitted projects hailing from across the country. Each edition of the BNA explores a new concept, which is proposed by the Romanian Union of Architects’ leadership. The Biennale is structured as a cultural event featuring complex and interesting content both for the architects’ guild and for the wider audience which the event addresses. The theme of this year’s Biennale was: “Architecture is done together!”

MET’s winning site is located in the outskirts of Archita village, in Mureș County, and was built during a later stage of village expansion relative to the nucleus surrounding the fortified church. The house’s long, street-facing facade was last renovated in the 1950s. The barn is the centerpiece of the work undertaken at this site. Unaltered by subsequent transformations, the barn’s high roof – taller than the building’s base itself – commands solemnity and pride while leaving a powerful impression on visitors entering through the street gate. The barn’s impressive dimensions harbor two discrete sections: a sandstone holding pen for animals and a large, separate hybrid space enclosed by four brick pillars. A second pair of pillars placed on the far right of the space feature struts protruding outward from the plane of the roof, suggesting an intention to extend the structure to the neighbor’s fence.

The Sighişoara-based MET Foundation invested in the site due to our conviction that the barn is a uniquely suitable space to host community events. Community programming is envisioned to take place at the heart of the barn; plans to install an adjacent kitchen in the former animal pen are underway. Auxiliary functions (i.e., bathrooms, a dressing room, electrical and Wi-Fi support) are tucked discreetly into a small extension to the barn’s east side, which is enclosed by wood beams.

One of the working principles supporting the project was to preserve the barn’s impressive height. The building’s redesign ensured that the barn’s “vertebral” line is visible both from the ground floor and from the smaller communal space accessible by stairs and located directly above the former animal pen. The intervention preserves as much of the building’s original layout as possible: the roof’s structural elements are clearly visible from inside the barn while the stone and brick masonry were cleaned and reinforced with a lime-clay mortar. The capitals and braces of the barn’s two central pillars have also been restored.

Cristina Constantin and Cosmin Pavel, the project’s architects and members of ABRUPTARHITECTURA, said: ““ŞURA – Laboratory for inclusive civic engagement” was a critical project for us from its very start, through planning the repurposing of the space alongside MET to the project’s implementation with support from the Active Citizens Fund program.

The primary goal of our architectural work was to respect the barn’s unique characteristics, authenticity, and warmth by using traditional construction techniques and materials (wood, clay, stone) while adding a series of more contemporary architectural elements. The latter will serve both a practical purpose by responding to the community’s needs while inspiring a dialogue in which both new and old elements interact as valuable components of the space. 

Our recognition within the “Heritage Recovery and Identity Interpretation” section of the National Architecture Biennale 2023 is all the sweeter given its tacit confirmation of the value and potential inherent in our cultural heritage, at once beautiful and fragile.”  

The “ŞURA – Laboratory of inclusive civic engagement” project was implemented under the umbrella of the “Self-standing Village” initiative, which aims to empower vulnerable groups by supporting community infrastructure and fostering civic engagement among entire villages through experiential learning activities. The project will roll out over 36 months thanks to the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund Romania, a program funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through EEA Grants 2014-2021. The program’s mission is neatly summarized by its slogan: “Working together for a green, competitive, and inclusive Europe.”Photo credits: Vlad Pătru

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