IMUAU Summer School. Schönberg 2023

Authors’ Comment

IMUAU Summer School. Schönberg 2023 was not about dodecaphonic music (by the composer Schönberg), but about "vernacular harmonies" (to quote the title of a lecture) established between the Casa Verde household, participants and the landscape of Dealu Frumos village. The workshops of the summer school were for restoration (for traditional Saxon elements, such as a shutter and the door of the Casa Verde Farmhouse) or integration into the specifics of the area (renovating the kitchen roof, creating traditional latches for the farm gate).
The summer school was organized by the "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism through the Documentary Exhibition Center - Museum of the School of Architecture, the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Architecture - Sibiu and the Center for Vernacular Architecture Studies - Dealu Frumos, in partnership with the Territorial Branch Bucharest of the Order of Architects from Romania, with the support of the Order of Architects from Romania, from the architecture stamp, and the Prince of Wales Foundation.
The "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism, through its various departments, is increasingly present in communities that aim to protect heritage and promote good practice models in the field of architectural conservation and restoration, to preserve the local specificity and perpetuate traditional techniques of construction.

The summer school (July 16-30, 2023)
By continuing the summer school started in 2019, we aimed to deepen traditional woodworking techniques, explore the possibilities of modeling iron, investigate the local specifics through interaction with community members. The practical activity, the proximity to the local context, the collaboration with craftsmen, teachers and participants were intended to stimulate the creativity and responsibility of the participants within this school, which combined lectures, practical work, field trips, surveying, drawing and designing.
The items we worked on this year were: a kitchen roof, a shutter and two entrance doors, latches for the gate, fitting out student accommodation.
The new roof for the Casa Verde kitchen was designed respecting the specifics of a Saxon household (handmade tiles, traditional roof structure, slope with the necessary inclination, by design we established an angle of 50 degrees). A carpentry workshop and a blacksmith workshop and two surprise workshops were organized: traditional dances (in Șona at the invitation of the Ambulance for Monuments - South Transylvania) and traditional baking (in the oven in the Household).
By participating in traditional events and practices, by appreciating the cultural landscape, the heritage of objects and customs from the Hârtibaciului Valley, an active way of reporting to the heritage is foreshadowed.
The summer school was addressed to the two series of students/ interns from all over the country and abroad and to external participants in lectures or study trips from within and outside the local community.

Partners: Bucharest Territorial Branch of the Romanian Order of Architects, Merghindeal Town Hall, Sibiu County, Teutsch House – Friedrich Teutsch Dialogue and Culture Center of the C.A. Evangelical Church. from Romania, Brukental National Museum, Astra National Museum Complex.
Media partners: Zeppelin Magazine, AGERPRES National Press Agency.
Sponsors: Iconic Wood, Rubio Monocoat Romania.

(text: Valentin Popescu)