Cultural Establishment. Reactivation of Pompiliu Eliade House through conversion and extension

Authors’ Comment

In a city like Bucharest, where the tension between ongoing development and the need for anchoring in identity heritage is increasingly evident, the built heritage must be seen as an active vector of regeneration, one that fosters community cohesion and grounds the continuity of collective memory. Historical buildings are silent witnesses to successive layers of urban life that, through reconnection and revalorization, can gain a renewed role in contemporary society.
This project centers around the Pompiliu Eliade House, a historic monument built in the Art Nouveau style at the beginning of the 20th century. Rich in symbolic potential, the house is located at the intersection of two major arteries (Mihail Kogălniceanu Boulevard and Splaiul Independenței) and is currently in an advanced state of degradation. The house becomes the nucleus of a broader ensemble including three adjacent sites: the neighboring house, also in an advanced state of degradation; the former Cazarma Bulevard site, which still preserves its original gates; and a nearby lot currently occupied by an unfinished and abandoned contemporary structure. The intervention proposes the restoration and reintegration of the Pompiliu Eliade House into the city’s urban circuit through a cultural function, aiming to regenerate a fragmented corner of the city where traces of the past are still present.
A defining element in shaping the architectural concept was the historical context of the site, rooted in a time when Bucharest was known as a city of gardens, an urban landscape where nature and green spaces played an essential role in daily life. Specifically, the site sits on the grounds of the former “Grădina cu Cai” (Garden of Horses), a 19th-century emblematic space for gatherings, theatre performances, and social interaction, now a reference point in the city’s collective memory. This fragment of local history formed the basis for the idea of the urban garden as a cultural and community space, inspiring a contemporary reinterpretation that revives the site’s spirit. Thus, the garden becomes a compositional matrix, a symbolic backdrop around which the entire architectural narrative is built.
The proposed volume responds directly to the constraints of the site and the dual character of the surrounding area: toward Mihail Kogălniceanu Boulevard, a continuous urban frontage is preserved, providing a firm and representative presence; while toward Splaiul Independenței, the intervention becomes more subtle, aligning with the domestic scale of existing fragments. The open space behind the monumental gate becomes a welcoming courtyard, a threshold space that transitions from the boulevard’s bustle to the depth of the intervention.
Rather than opting for a neutral restoration, the project proposes a functional and poetic reimagining of the ensemble: a house-museum dedicated to temporary cultural events; a bookstore with educational spaces for workshops and community dialogue; and a contemporary co-working center with fluid, open workspaces.
This gesture of opening toward the past becomes an act of responsibility toward the future. Through this project, a call is made to reactivate urban memory through architecture, as a living medium of dialogue between history and the contemporary city, understood as a palimpsest in continuous rewriting, where each intervention adds a new layer of meaning.