Extension of the Independence Cinema with a Film and Media Faculty, Târgoviște

Authors’ Comment

The project is located in Târgoviște, in the city center. It aims to revitalize the area through a Film and Media Faculty, which would work in tandem with the Independența Cinema—a remnant of the communist era, now treated like the back of a building. This new structure is intended to restore the cinema's façade and integrate it into the traditional urban tissue by recalling the old pathways that were destroyed during its original construction. This mediating element, positioned along the boulevard, responds to the cinema by adopting its directions and dimensions, centering on it. This creates a "face-to-face" relationship between Stelea Monastery, the Faculty, and the Cinema.
The intervention was designed not to obscure the original direct connection between Stelea Monastery and the Cinema. Instead, the aim was to introduce an element that floats, offering various angles and perspectives, without revealing everything, inviting people to discover the "in-between" space. Structurally, the upper part of this new construction acts like a Vierendeel beam, consisting of a dense perimeter metal structure that unloads onto a super beam—a new ground, which then unloads at four points on the ground floor. This structural effort serves to free up the ground floor, providing transparency and a direct connection to the street. In this case, the external image of the Faculty is purely structural, with the structure itself becoming the façade.
Regarding the interior organization of the Faculty, the circulation spaces are not just passageways; they become a large foyer that diagonally opens at each level, offering views of the old urban fabric. The top-level completes the building, serving as an open space where only the structural elements float, creating a study and meeting area for students.
As for the Independența Cinema, it has also been given a new façade, literally, not just in terms of addressing the importance of the public space that is formed between it and the Faculty. As a minimal intervention, its canopy was removed to build a new entrance and to provide the necessary spaces it required.
A connection between the two entities—the Cinema and the Faculty—is established through a plaza where the old pathways converge, but there is also a direct connection via the basement. The basement serves as the linking element, containing public spaces that further activate the sunken courtyard and the plaza between the two structures. This plaza gives the impression that the interior space flows into the exterior.
Therefore, the main questions this project seeks to answer are: How can the area be socially reactivated? How can the back become the front? How can the intersection of these two urban fabrics be addressed? How can the exterior public space have a direct relationship with the interior one?