The subject of this article is honest architecture. A house located in the proximity of Bucharest which might belong to any person with a lot of common sense and a happy financial situation. That does not mean it keeps secret the true identity of the beneficiary, but that the respective identity does not present exuberances that would put it on the priority list before the program. The interest for an object well made surpassed that for personalization. It can be seen from afar that the hand of the architect wasn’t crushed for a second under the creative authority of some lady’s heels. The domestic nature of the house remained this way in the shadow of the program’s perfection, the result being an impeccable living apparatus, with an elegant design, with thin details. Impersonalized, the house has the freedom – quite longed for by any architect – to be very personal. Its identity lies where some architects have found God – in the detail. That of conception as well as that of execution.
PROIECT: OANA MIHAILESCU
COORDONATORI: CRINA ROTARU, ANDRA RADULESCU
FOTO: ANDREI MIHAILESCU
TEXT: SILVIA GUGU

Nature is an unbeatable designer and the best professor. The Finnish have learned that thanks to some natural conditions that have left their imprint on creation, accumulating and treasuring a perpetuated tradition in wood culture and in the art of craving. The development of the design with a well preserved national specific, with an emphasis on tradition and the regional spiritual inheritance, took place in close relation with the natural riches of Finland. Just as the snow made out of every Finn a skier, just as water made out of every Finn a swimmer, the same way wood (birch tree) made out of every Finn a craftsman. It’s no surprise that the first ‘designer school’ with an emphasis on the transmittal of practical knowledge, craft and esthetic education appears in 1842, the Finnish being renowned in the field of furniture and textiles. 125 years ago, the Finnish Society for Craftsmanship and Design instituted the ‘Young Designer of the Year’ award with the purpose of promoting a type of professional public presentation of the young Finnish designers and make them known. In 2002 the distinction was awarded to two Finnish that form a team not only at a professional level, but also in life – designer Pyry Tamminen and Tuuli Autio, an artisan of fine furniture.
TEXT: ANDREI SZELIN

14 years ago, when the Norwegian architecture firm Snohetta won the contest organized under the auspices of UNESCO for the project of building the Alexandrian Library, one of the most important institutions in the history of Egypt, Kjetil Traedal Thorsen, one of the three main architects who designed the Alexandrian Library, was only 31 years of age (and was ‘the oldest’). Thorsen, together with the partners of twenty and some years from the Snohetta firm, American Craig Dykers and Austrian Cristoph Kapeller, went down into the history of Egypt in order to create a modern interpretation of the famous construction.
TEXT: VALERIE VOLCOVICI
FOTO: AMARJIT SIDHU
TRADUCERE: OANA TANASE

The territorial affiliation of the Chamber of Romanian Architects has initiated the manifestation program ?Bucharest and the architect, within which was organized the annual of architecture of the city of Bucharest? (10-25 April 2003, the ground floor of the University of Architecture and Urbanism Ion Mincu.
Viorel Hurduc: - The intention of the Architects Chamber was to gain, at last, an identity card. Given the fact that the credibility of our profession, if not doubted, it wasn't accessed with conviction, it was natural that one day we would ?get in the street with architecture?. The world to be able to perceive it and analyze it! This was the desire of the Order. Besides an actual office, we also wanted a place to exhibit the projects. So, we made proof of our profession not only through words, as we have tried. This beginning launches also the chain of exhibitions linked to the Bucharest architecture: supporting the administration as much as we can, through projects that have been thought for certain hot areas for today?s moments. The exhibition, therefore, has two coordinates: one related to identity, the other equivalent to a step made for the administration, in a collective effort. The annual of architecture is somehow the result of the Order?s activity for a year. Through its statute, the Architects? Order is an institution administrating the right to signature; but it is not enough: it must also guarantee the production in itself. Our intention is that we would annually present the most representative works produced in the past two years. Our problems: we were six months away from the biennial of architecture; we wanted our exhibition to take place in the spring and close to holidays.
FOTO: GEORGE VASILACHE
INTERVIU PENTRU IGLOO: BRUNO ANDRESOIU