Rusticitas Et Urbanitas. Conversion and Expansion of the Solacolu Inn: Cultural Center for Arts and Architecture

Authors’ Comment

In light of current social, cultural, and environmental dissonance, urgent spatial challenges necessitate a closer examination of aesthetic and sustainable solutions. With numerous historic ruins that are both architecturally valuable and sadly abandoned, an opportunity presents itself to reimagine heritage and understand the value of collective memory and identity. The project examines the aesthetics, sustainability, and impact of transforming a ruin into a cultural center that benefits the nearby community. The transformation may demonstrate how salvaged traditional architecture can function in contemporary life. Both urbanistic and architectural elements are considered, from designing the street as a cultural route to the expansion and recovery of the heritage building.

A hidden testimony of traditional streets is uncovered in the palimpsest of Bucharest, a city of juxtapositions, layers, and tension, a place where stories are woven. The historical overlaps define the character of a palimpsest, fragmented by multiple dysfunctions that the proposal answers. One such issue—the lack of pedestrian space—is solved by restricting car access to the street, with the preservation of a tourist tram line. Abandoned spaces and illegal parking lots can be reactivated for the enhancement of a cultural route. The street becomes narrow, and the urban furniture becomes a place for rest, where I can feel melancholy and laziness, far from speed and haste.

The Solacolu Inn is a socio-cultural significant historic ruin*, hidden in the historic area of Calea Moșilor, Bucharest. Known for its vernacular design, the structure is rooted in traditional practices of medieval architecture. In order to safeguard the relevant heritage elements, the author proposes a conversion and expansion of the building into a Cultural Center for Arts and Architecture. The 12.000 sqm ensemble is designed on the Solacolu Inn's and adjacent plots, and on the opposite parcels are proposed temporary exhibition and workshop spaces that attract a constant flux of visitors. The functional program features a ground floor open to the public with a strong commercial character. The upper levels, open to the courtyard, are designed for museum galleries. The spatial journey through the site is crafted to evoke curiosity and a sense of mystery, detaching visitors from the present through the use of natural materials like wood and travertine stone. The attic is intended for related functions: a hub for architecture and arts students, and a conference room as a place for meetings between disciplines.

The fragmented form becomes an enclosed garden, permeable through the urban fabric through the reversible extensions that draw inspiration from the dense, enclosed typologies of medieval caravanserais and inns. The envisioned new structures utilize an innovative hybrid system that combines laminated timber and steel-core columns, honoring the site's traditional influences. The design doesn't impose ''cosmical order'' on the fragmented site, but rather enhances the discovery of the secret, the mysterious passageways, and the courtyards hidden by the inns' fronts. By reimagining the site, the project transforms the Solacolu Inn into a vibrant cultural and educational hub, blending heritage preservation with contemporary use. It serves as an aesthetic and sustainable model for reviving historic ruins, not as a static artifact, but as a dynamic social infrastructure designed for the community’s present needs.

Note: At the time of the project's conception, the building was in a state of ruin. Currently, the consolidation works are near completion.