Avangarde VII

Authors’ Comment

The metropolitan development of Bucharest advances at a rapid pace and engulfs many of the city’s former satellite settlements. This urbanization process often extends itself over former agricultural plots whose status is thereby changed in order to allow the building of individual, duplex or row-houses, rarely even flats. These investments follow the preexisting rural/agricultural land pattern – with narrow and deep plots – and, while focusing on maximizing profit, leave little room for common or shared outdoor areas.
This real estate project had to solve a simple request: raw houses, as cheap as possible, neatly placed in one of the fields on the outskirts of Bucharest in Voluntari. Preliminarily, the developer had the experience of building six more similar complexes, with identical houses lined up opposite the parking lots. One of these projects, Avangarde III, was also designed by Republic of Architects in 2013 and presented at BNA 2016. At that time, the main requirement was the construction of housing similar to ensembles I and II in terms of both costs, as well as the building techniques previously used by the client. Furthermore, we had to imagine a system to differentiate the houses and to provide a more interesting urban landscape.
as well as the addition of small “design” fireworks, which would characterize both this The layout was resumed identically with this ensemble, Avangarde VII, without significant configuration changes. The upgrade brought after these years was oriented toward new finishes, facade management and exterior design. A system of ample metal pergolas was added, which would provide shade to the arid landscape of the common outdoor space, occupied by the necessary facilities infrastructures, parking spaces and necessary road spaces. It was also planned to build a pool shared by all tenants, complementary to the playground provided in Avangarde III complex.
Taking into consideration that the policies of the recent urban developments around Bucharest seem to have forgotten urbanity’s main ingredients — the planning of public services and buildings alongside private developments — the commission to design such a residential ensemble in Voluntari seemed the perfect opportunity to invest in a strategy that has the potential to become a viable private alternative to the public authority’s capitulation in the face of this accelerated urbanization. Thus, we hope that by providing a minor network of complementary functions, an incipient urbanity can be recomposed for the ensembles built in the periphery.