Born in 1937 in Genoa, Renzo Piano finished his architectural studies in 1964 (at the University of Florence and at the Polytechnics University in Milan), the same year he founded Studio Piano. For a few years he was to experiment with light structures and materials in collaboration with Louis Kahn in Philadelphia and with Z.S. Makowsky in London, until 1970, when his association with Richard Rogers, culminating with the establishment of the Georges Pompidou Center, brought him international recognition.
TEXT: SILVIA GUGU

Sorin Budai's house is a beam of vanishing lines, is a 3D game where no mater how much you twist around you only see controlled perspectives, a compact, introvert space, a virtual tunnel that always absorbs the eye towards its interior. Awarded the medal of the Union of the Architects at the Biennale in "˜98, the house designed by the architect Florian Stanciu for Sorin Budai was often considered as being austere, a design object impermeable to the dynamics of the life inside. The perspective, this fortunate ingredient of the past ages, cancelled with indifference by the modernity, persists here like an unnoticed scent, but which relaxes the senses, relieves the nerves and ventilates the mind. The light, controlled by imperceptible maneuvers, the colors in flat hues and the long edges tending to knot in a vanishing point are the arguments by which the house sustains its appurtenance to the cult of perfection, with a vocation of space and shape purity that is, I insist, at the same level as the classical language.
PROIECT: IULIA STANCIU, FLORIAN STANCIU
TEXT: SILVIA GUGU
FOTO: SERBAN BONCIOCAT

Easily recognizable even by the amateurs, the domestic products created by Alessi are cataloged by specialists somewhere between art and craft, bearing the print of an unmistakable style: simplicity of the line and shape, excellent finishing and execution, as well as a frequent funny note. "Alessi sells joy!" declares Philippe Starck, one of the contemporary design's enfants terribles. True. The joy of living also the daily, common moments of life " involving cooking, eating, washing " is celebrated by creating functional objects with an original aesthetic.
TEXT: MIRELA DUCULESCU
FOTO/COPYRIGHT: DI PALMA ASSOCIATI, MILANO

Behind Romanian Athenaeum, in the very heart of the city, passing on Nicolae Golescu Street, your attention is drawn by the refined and cosmopolite look of a laminated with quality and well finished wood, elegant facade. A discreet "B", with arched edges in an elegant calligraphy, almost a sign, a symbol, reveals the first part of the name of the place. Byblos. Passing the also discreet entrance, you enter a welcome space separating two functions: to the left, a coffee shop, Molinari, named after the famous Italian coffee, to the right, stairs leading to the restaurant. Following the stairs descending to the basement, you discover a third place completing the impression of intimacy and good taste. The bustling Bucharest of the cars and of the main boulevards remains somewhere behind, you can only guess its proximity by the silhouettes of the beginning of the century buildings that can be seen through the generous windows. You feel yourself protected, separated from all that, in a privileged, almost fantastic space.
TEXT: CORINA DUMA
FOTO: SERBAN BONCIOCAT

On the General Berthelot Street there is a discreet, inter-war block of flats, with a ground-like plastering. What the passers by with hats deep pulled over their heads and with breath turned into steam don't know, is that, in one of the apartments at the superior floors it is autumn for ever and the green still lives there, while over them it snows chaotically from a GREY sky. A young couple lives in the apartment. Despite their age, which usually demands chromatic exuberance, the couple wished that the dwelling should be arranged in natural, earth colors. Thus, there was created an apartment where the September morning light is always present, with a polyclone vibration within the range of withered leaves.
PROIECT: SIMONA RIZZI, SPAZIO CASA INTERIOARE
TEXT: SILVIA GUGU
FOTO: SERBAN BONCIOCAT

At least once in your lifetime you have the opportunity to see a sick doctor or a fashion designer dressed awkwardly, but an architect with a messy desk (both spatially and functionally) can be seen anytime, without any particular effort. The antithetic example from W4th architecture is an alleviation dedicated to all the people working crowded in a functionalist cell from a 70s building and who dream of opening one day their own architecture office.
PROIECT: W4TH ARCHITECTURE
TEXT: SILVIA GUGU
FOTO: A. BJORG