On the road between Ploiești and Buzău, in the junction area between the Romanian plain and the subcarpathian hills, lies the city of Urlați, not very famous in itself, but hiding a series of monuments that are very important to the national built patrimony. Among these, the most outstanding is the Bellu Mansion, whose age-old image was recovered through a long process of restoration, finalized last year. The works were the result of the collaboration between the members of a multidisciplinary team, including research, design and execution of the works per se. Therefore, we have to mention the contribution of architects Daniel and Călin Hoinărescu, structure engineer Sandor Zoltan, historians Irina and Eugen Paveleţ, and of plastic artists Graţiela and Ion Stoian and architecture student Matei Stoian. Since the wooden pillars on the veranda weren't able to support the weight of the framing, a series of interventions took place in order to alleviate their charge, at the moment their role being strictly a decorative one, contributing to the authenticity of the building's image and the preservation of the original substance. The refined stucco decorations were also restored, keeping all of their original elements and the missing parts were reconstructed, in order to achieve a unitary image of the facades.

“Design isn’t just forms you create (...), but things you feel”, explains Tokujin Yoshioka. For the Japanese designer, everything gravitates around light, the (i)materiality of memories and of visual and tactile sensations. He speaks of design in terms of “beauty”, “hazard”, “nature” (“„I wish I could take a cloud home with me. I believe that nature is the greatest design in existence.”), “emotional energy” and “unexpected coincidences”, as the finest of personal experiences. “If all designs were simple and practical, there would be no richness to life or the desires of the heart.”
Born in 1967, Tokuin Yoshioka worked for Shiro Kuramata (1987-1988) and for Issey Miyake (1988-1992); after a period of freelance work, in 2000, he inaugurated the Tokujin Yoshioka Design Office, responsible for a series of exhibition spaces for Miyake, Hermes, BMW or Toyota, furniture pieces for Driade (Tokyo-pop) and Moroso, the interior design of the Swarowsky store in Tokyo (2008) and other works, such as the Stardust chandelier for the Swarowsky Crystal Palace (2005). His creations are now exhibited in the permanent collections of the MoMA New York, the Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture, the Victoria and Albert Museums, the Cooper Hewitt and at Vitra. 2007 saw him named Designer of the Year at Design Miami and 2008 brought him the Wallpaper Design award for Best Furniture Design.
Rather than any singular object, it is the installation as a whole that allows Tokujin Yoshioka to speak freely about nature and emotional energies as well as about materials and color. Second Nature (Tokyo, Oct 2008 - Jan 2009) is a group exhibition (bringing together names like Ross Lovegrove, Humberto and Fernando Campana as well as other Japanese designers), an exhibition that Tokujin coordinated, one that “is neither about creating visual resemblances to nature, about presenting works that use natural materials, nor imitating the surface of principles”. The design presented by Tokujin Yoshioka himself – Venus – the natural crystal chair, is the physical process itself by which crystals are formed and “grown” into the shape of a chair: small crystals of the mineral solution fluid are grown inside a water tank, around soft polyester fibers, surfacing at a later point, much like the goddess from the waves. “A half of the production of „VENUS” is guided by myself, and the other half is made by Mother Nature.”

The siting and orientation are excellent. Half buried into the site, its southern side is sheltered from direct sunshine and resulting high temperatures. The western side also is sheltered. To the north, is a high and thick granite wall. To the east, are the access and entrance areas.
The extension added only what was necessary, trying to respect what was already there.
The transformation started at roof level: from a complex variety of different structures and planes a two way pitched roof was created. A cross span of 18 meters forced the introduction of a row of central pillars, which were undesired and undesirable and which were therefore reduced to a minimum. The roof structure in laminated timber is a simple one, despite the four stanchions that emerge from each pillar, to support the roof trusses. Steel cables are used to restrain the great horizontal thrust generated by the weight of the structure and roof finishes. Inside, the choice of materials was guided by the parameters of hygiene, durability and maintenance. The timber vats and tubs were replaced by stainless steel tanks rigorously lined up, with their generous bellies, some full, others waiting to receive the precious nectar.
Over the granite outdoor tank, sits the volume of the small office, both outside and inside, trying to connect the two spaces.

The residential building designed by architecture firm PZP and finalized at the beginning of this year expresses, at all levels of perception, one central theme: minimalism. The building is situated in an area of relatively small and very narrow lots. Within the limits of 8 m width and 25 m length, five apartments were developed on the same number of floors, resulting in a total built surface of 1 000 sqm. In order to win more space for the apartments, the architects resorted to a solution that is not very common in Romania, bringing to mind what we see in US movie: the only staircase is the external one, meant for evacuation, while the hydraulic elevator opens directly inside every apartment. The result is a personalized, modern building, with an industrial aspect due to the materials, colours and textures that were used, a sort of "artificial loft", that doesn't re-use any of the old structures, but rises from the same starting point. The metallic staircase, painted blue (one of the main colours used within oil refineries) stand out though the presence of its complementary colour - orange. The white undulating metallic structure covering the facade, and the gray lining of the plaques and banisters complete the chromatic register. The architectural discourse is coherent even to the slightest detail: on the outside, the materials and textures are "borrowed" from the industrial field, while the void interiors are reminiscing of industrial halls.

Different from the dominant residential front it's fitted in, the office building relates to the public space without the benefit of a clear separation line - such as a fence. The ground level is cut out of the whole through the two framing white consoles, offering a sense of a gradual passage between public and private space, and is developed at the passer-by's level, completely opening itself through an all glass facade. The function, with its requirement of uniformity in the treatment of facades, together with different factors, have generated a "skin" made out of curtain walls and light walls, mostly glazed - on the volume facing the street, with an east-south-west orientation - or mostly solid - on the back volume, with a north-east-south orientation. Contradicting, for starters, the character of the area, the main volume, "packed" inside the curtain wall's glazing, is, afterward, punctured by three "clinging" volumes, of different consistencies and material structures, whose proportions help inscribing it within the context. On the glazed side facing the street, the benefits of shade are welcome, thus explaining the presence of sun blockers and the console extrudation of the level lines generating retreats and facade registers. Despite their contemporary character, the materials used for the skin try to keep a neutral tone while relating to the vicinities, through their monochrome aspect.