A church, a school, an intergenerational center

Authors’ Comment

Through the abundant and strongly fluctuating amalgam of the urban and architectural developments of the city, the Bucharest urban palimpsest represents in itself an environment of random collisions between its inhabitants of all ages. However, the result of these collisions is often distal, unresolved, and the development of their potential for possibly prolific interactions remains suspended in the uncertainty of a collective "what if ...?" .

Studying the planimetry of the city of Bucharest reveals a number of neutral/uncertain abandoned places that have attained the derision of waiting for long-delayed (re)activations. The current project represents the completion and redefining of such an empty place's character: the urban island outlined by the Berzei - Știrbei Vodă - Plevnei streets, located on the border of Bucharest's central protected areas. The whole concept has its origins in the on-site presence of two inseparable urban landmarks - Biserica Sf. Ștefan "Cuibul cu Barză" and the Secondary School of Arts no. 3, key elements in the broad history of the city's evolution over the centuries.

The proposal's aim is complete openness to the local and extended population of the whole city by developing a platform for intergenerational interaction and cohabitation, occupying the center of the chosen island, defining a close connection with the site's two historical landmarks. The ultimate goal is the coagulation of an age-heterogeneous community to facilitate the formation of bonds among the inhabitants of the same city beyond the often unfounded barriers of generational differences.