Reimagining the Leonida Garages - Contemporary Cultural Space Bucharest

Authors’ Comment

In an ultra-central area of ​​the city of Bucharest, in the vicinity of Calea Victoriei, more precisely on Luterană street at number 13, there is the former point of sale of the Leonida Garages, a building that stands out from the street front and which represents a perspective end of George Enescu Street from Calea Victoriei.
The area where this garage is located has a semi-historic air, the buildings have a heterogeneous character rather than a unitary one, due to great differences both formally - stylistically, and in terms of morphology and built dimensions. As for the neighborhood, it is a sensitive one due to the existence of important religious monuments (Calvinist Church., St. Joseph's Cathedral) whose presence is diminished by the later architecture. Another strange moment for the street is the considerable height difference between the neighbors bordering the diploma site, the gap between them being between 22m and 75m.

In this case of heterogeneity and deep urban historical fabrics, the first gesture that came was the desire to open up the plot and create new pathways. During some events, the scenario I imagined is that of an unfettered and permeable space in relation to the urban fabric, and on the rest of the days, the action should be reduced to a semi-public route strictly for users. The idea of ​​experimenting with such public insertions inside a private plot comes through an understanding of James Stirling's project, Neue Galerie with applicability on a strip of the site later called "urban slab" which connects Luterană Street with the St. Sava High School Street.
Questioning the condition of the artist (study, exercise, the need for exposure, etc.), a space adaptable to changes is proposed, a contemporary cultural space of the "frame" type to ensure the development of cultural-artistic activities. Thus, the vicinity of Calea Victoriei will represent a valuable place with a predisposition to enhance activity and the artistic community.
The idea of ​​the project materializes the abandoned building of the Leonida Garages in a spine composed of a series of bodies with different spatial typologies that house work, meeting, study spaces, as well as two multifunctional rooms. This spine is composed so that the glued bodies produce an open path, with different urban sequences that facilitate a gradual transition from the public of the street to the privacy of the workrooms.
The second gesture comes by continuing the alveolar character of Lutheran Street with a break that reveals the perspective towards the Calvinist Church and leaves a breath of fresh air towards the vicinity of the office tower. This break becomes an "urban slab" materialized through an elevated public square offered to the city which, by rising from the ground, resolves the slope of the land and makes room for an exhibition gallery. The square is marked at street level by a bar that lines up on the side of the former Leonida building and which, by rising from the ground, marks the moment of entry. In the opposite area that closes the route on the site, there is a U-shaped body with practical workshops, accommodation units and necessary functions that the small community may need. Both the interior and the exterior space form one, the workshop rooms can extend to the neighboring ones or to the yard thus forming small areas prone to work and social relations.