Cultural-Educational Forum - Extention of the Argeș County Museum, Pitești

Authors’ Comment

Collective memory is constantly trying to remain relevant in its various forms. By looking at it, we are able to link whole periods of time that come to define the cultural identity of an area, of a population. By attempting to keep alive the collective memory of a community, it is possible to understand how that community relates to its own values and its own experiences. The diploma project aims to reactivate the memory of a place with a deep symbolic charge for the city of Pitesti, the former church of Buliga Hermitage and reconnect it to the current urban life through an architectural intervention that brings together past and present. On the site of the hermitage there is today an amorphous, little-used green area, separated from the city by road. The project proposes the transformation of this space into an active link between the city center and the Argeș County Museum, through a pedestrian route with cultural and educational functions, crossing the former church site and transforming it into a living public space. The new intervention is articulated around two major directions: the axis of the former church, as a memory-generating element, and the axis of the existing museum building. This dual orientation gives rise to flexible, multifunctional spaces that host cultural activities, workshops and exhibitions, all brought together in an inner courtyard with a community character. The volumetric shape follows a logic of slipping and sliding on the terrain, responding to the topography and adjacent urban fabric. The approach seeks to create a contemporary architecture that evokes without imitating, transmits without formally replicating, offering the city a new space for encounter, reflection and belonging. Thus, the project becomes a tool to valorize local history through contemporary means, strengthening the relationship between community, memory and public space.