24 YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF ROMANIAN HERITAGE AND COMMUNITIES
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At the request of Pro.Do.Mo. Asociația and Pro Patrimonio Foundation, in 2016 the international organization World Monuments Fund nominated Bucharest among the world’s most endangered historical sites. The WMF chooses sites and heritage objectives that have international urban value and has been interested in saving worldwide architectural and cultural heritage for over 50 years.
The capital of Romania has been nominated for the category “Historic Center in Danger” on the 2016 World Monuments Watch list due to demolition or abandonment of heritage buildings, uncontrolled development and destructive rehabilitation interventions. As a result, the city has been included in a monitoring program regarding public policies for heritage protection. The imminent risk of a massive earthquake jeopardizes most of the city’s heritage buildings.
On 3 March 2017, Watch Day 2017 focused on a call to action for the Capital, facing imminent threats and challenges from the perspective of heritage vulnerability and seismic risk. The event had two components: Watch Day – Vulnerable Bucharest – Debate. Book Launch and Watch Night – Vulnerable Bucharest, informal meeting – Book launch, movies and experiences..
Bucharest, the European capital with the highest seismic risk, abounds, especially in its central area, in buildings with a grade I seismic risk, which implies an imminent collapse at the first major earthquake. In the case of an earthquake like the one in 1977, today’s Bucharest would lose a large number of modernist blockhouses and nineteenth-century houses that sheltering thousands of people today. The human, material and city losses would be major (see http://blog.seismic-alert.ro/).
As an example, Magheru Boulevard is itself an archive of modernist buildings with an internationally recognized cultural and architectural value. 15 historical monument buildings, 9 buildings with a class I seismic, 5 buildings with a class II seismic, 65,000 sqm of built environment in danger, 150,000 sqm area in danger, 2000+ inhabitants, 5000+ people in daily transit are figures that outline the current situation of boulevard.
Here’s an awareness-raising film made by Pro Patrimonio Foundation, World Monuments Fund and Association Pro.Do.Mo.:
World Monuments Watch is a global program launched in 1996 aiming to attract international attention to cultural heritage sites around the world. The program provides an opportunity for nominated sites to raise public awareness, promote local participation, encourage innovation and collaboration, and highlight alternative solutions.
Watch Day 2017 – Vulnerable Bucharest was organized by the Romanian Center for Innovation in Local Development (Centrul Român pentru Inovație în Dezvoltare Locală)), MKBT: Make Better, the Order of Architects in Romania – Bucharest Branch, with initiators Pro.Do.Mo and Pro Patrimonio.
At the end of 2010, Bucharest City Hall decided to start works for the North-South Diameter, based on the Local Urban Plan for the Buzeşti-Berzei-Uranus Diameter. The demolitions have brought back painful memories to the inhabitants of Bucharest, especially through the way they were implemented (executed at night, without dismantling the valuable pieces to be reused fully or as materials, with the evacuation of the inhabitants in winter). The prerequisites for the project were fluency and increase of car traffic transit without the analysis of the consequences on the overall mobility, ignoring the complex reality of life and living in the neighborhood.
The Matache area, in the center of Bucharest, has undergone dramatic and radical changes that have left their mark on the community leaving its neighborhood and heart, the historical monument Matache Hall (demolished overnight on 25 March 2013), in a state of social and economic disintegration. Civil society actions against the demolition of historical monuments drew attention to the need to regenerate and integrate the project, to modernize streets with more complex projects aiming to revitalize urban and social tissue.
Currently, the area is abandoned by the administration and looks as a huge unhealed wound.
Pro Patrimonio Foundation has been involved in rescuing the area and Matache Hall, and suggested hands-on solutions for urban regeneration and dialogue with the administration. Two witness-lines were born.
The first is the volume Who is afraid of the Matache neighborhood? Principles of urban regeneration for the Matache area – North Railway Station in Bucharest (Pro Patrimonio 2012), a manifest book, a project book, a book witness to a concentrated urban activism phenomenon, that imagines that anyone can have an initiative and suggest solutions for neighborhoods and cities. At the time of the book’s release, February 2012, the North-South Diameter operation seemed to be far from over and there was hope for Hala Matache to remain standing (unfortunately, it would be demolished on 25 March 2013). The volume created by Mirela Duculescu was awarded the ex aequo national prize for the book section, the National Architecture Biennial 2012.
The full text of the book is available here: Matache link
The second direction is the 2016 documentary film by Dragoș Lumpan Matache. Berzei-Buzeşti ,based on an dense material. Changes in the area are captured in filming, timelapse, and photos taken between 2010 and 2016. The film includes interviews with architects, urban planners, anthropologists, and representatives of the civil society, residents and merchants in the area, former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, and archive images. The film provides an objective perspective on a specific urban tissue, and is an example and case study for other cities facing similar situations. The film benefited from the financial support of the National Cultural Fund Administration and received the AFCN Award for Innovation in the Promotion of Architectural Heritage in 2016.
Follow this link for news about the film and project (work in progress) Platforma Matache.
Another tour of workshops for children held at the manors looked after by Pro Patrimonio – Perticari- Davila Manor in Izvoru village, Neamțu Manor in Olari village and Golescu villa in Câmpulung – has come to an end. This second tour was coordinated by our generous Andreea Machidon supported by dedicated and special volunteers. For the very first time, we would like to thank one of the mothers, Daniela Marchidan, who has worked with patience and care with the children as well as with her 10-year old son. They have helped not only in the organization, but also in the process of creating objects. We also give our warm thanks to the extremely creative and fun Isabella Madauna, architecture student.
The theme of this tour around the manors was getting close to and understanding nature and natural elements by means of observation and reinterpreted drawing. The teams of children from the three manors managed to paint botanical elements on lunch-box type pouches suitable for gatehring plants, leaves or nuts and which will soon be on sale. They also designed their own pencil-case type minipouches for school which they personalized using the stamp technique after having made their ow FIMO stamps.
They managed to create an adorable series of colourful agendas using a simple method of book binding. These are to be their private agendas with modules they can change by themselves once they run out of clean pages. A very useful instrument for their future creative development is the notion of font that they found out about and which they exercised on their new agendas. The work was done outside in Neamțu Manor and Golescu Villa, the children fully enjoying nature, while at Izvoru the workshop took place inside the canteen rebuilt during the former workshops.
Tour of the Manors is the second from the series this year and is part of a more ample Pro Patrimonio Foundation project, Education for Heritage undergo this year under the umbrella of the European Year of Cultural Heritage #EuropeForCulture, #EYCH2018
Semințe de conac (Mansion seeds) is a project that involves collaboration between Pro Patrimonio and the children from Izvoru Commune, Arges County. Together we try to design a place for creative activities and others in the Perticari Davila Mannor Complex dedicated to the entire community.
Pro Patrimonio developed an itinerant project that announces the coming of winter holidays through a series of creative and educational workshops for children in communities bordering the mansions and monuments where they operate: Neamţu Mansion from Olari, Perticari-Davila Mansion from Izvoru and Villa Golescu from Câmpulung.
As a result, under the guidance of architect Andreea Machidon, the children made a limited collection of handmade objects that are found annually at the Christmas Fair of the Verona Bookstore in Bucharest. And in 2017, the Christmas decorations made by the children from Izvoru during the activities organized by Pro Patrimonio for the preservation and bringing to light of the Perticari Mansion were available at the bookstore Cărturești in Bucharest. They have been purchased at the price of a donation that goes to support the Foundation’s projects.
Under the coordination of Pro Patrimonio Foundation and with the help of volunteers, a series of events took place between 2015-2016: exhibitions about the history and cultural value of the Perticari-Davila Estate, film screenings, games, discussions, creative-educational workshops, exhibition of the Perticari family, drawing activities, sports and first aid courses, etc. Much of this has occurred in the basement of the small mansion where the Izvoru community has attended events.
In 2016, Pro Patrimonio also got involved in the school program Școala Altfel: at our architecture course we drew our own homes, investigated local materials, and created the model of our colleague’s house using the resources available in Izvoru. The dance course has raised much interest and curiosity among both the younger and the elder.
The Mannor House Club (Clubul conac) for young children changed its quarters in the place of the former canteen on the Perticari-Davila estate. The canteen dating from the communist period is one of the village’s landmarks, a well-known place, used only to a small degree.
Pro Patrimonio Foundation started the redesign works on this new place together with the children from Izvoru. The children were able to contribute directly to drafting and creating a space they will use in the future for workshops and events.
On 27 May 2017 the The Perticari-Davila Estate Association organized the inauguration of the local farm with guest speakers: arch. Raluca Munteanu, program coordinator for Pro Patrimonio; Mrs. Irina Ghica Cantacuzino, owner of the estate, Mrs. Clarisse Deniau, the president of the association, Nicolas Triboi, director of the association, and Mr. Claudiu Neguţ, mayor of Izvoru commune, Arges county. The event was followed by the blessing of the manor and the farm, a visit of the historic park and the production area and the presentation of a photo exhibition.
The Perticari-Davila Estate Associationwas born in November 2016 out of the desire to bring back to life an important historical estate that has been left behind in recent years. Since then, cultural and local heritage activities have been organized and this year the foundations for a vegetable, organic, and productive farm have been set. The Association brings to light the local cultural heritage and landscape in order to define a truly viable economic, innovative and autonomous model that can provide a dynamic shift to rural areas that are often lacking in vision.
https://www.facebook.com/domeniulPerticariDavila/
The historical park of the Davila-Perticari Estate in Izvoru, Argeş County and its organic farm open its doors throughout the year to all those who want to join the association. The association wants to be productive, and in its basket one finds not just vegetables, but also the values of its vision of the world: it supports and develops proximity agriculture, encourages local labor force; favors urban and rural ties between consumer and producer, and participates in the training of organic farming specialists.
Details https://intofarms.org/izvoru-farm/
Pro Patrimonio won a financing through the Historical Monuments Stamp Tax of the INP for the realization of the technical documentation for the authorization and execution of the conservation works for the Neamțu Manor in Olari. We use this opportunity to tell what such a journey, which seems very complicated, bureaucratic and accessible only to specialists, means We hope you’ll find it useful and become more confident in the support provided by professionals for this absolutely necessary step to intervene in an existing building, not just in the case of a historical monument.
The project consists of several stages. The first is the diagnosis – what are the problems of the house. Just like at the doctor’s office, we first evaluate the health condition and the causes of the visible degradations, but we also perform material analyses in order to be able to evaluate the house’s behaviour in more detail.
What the diagnosis stage consists of:
> SURVEY >> HISTORICAL STUDY >> MATERIAL ANALYSIS >> GEOTECHNICAL STUDY >> TOPOGRAPHIC LIFTING >> TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
THE SURVEY is the complete drawing of the building (plans, sections, facades), made by the architect. You can measure in the classic way – with roulette and draw each piece separately, or you can opt for modern technology – 3D scanning. The survey is combined with photographs and direct observations to note the degradations that are observed: cracks, missing elements (windows, plasters, finishes, chimneys) or deformations and displacements of constituent elements. Direct observation can also bring information about the different stages of construction (if joints or differences in materials are observed).
The evolution of the building over time – changes, use, references and old images – is particularly important to understand the current state of the building.
THE HISTORICAL STUDY also analyses the cultural value of the various constituent elements, establishing, in the case of historical monuments, how to intervene (e.g. strict conservation, repairs with compatible materials, etc.). In the case of the Neamțu Manor, the Roman mosaic on the first floor is one of the most valuable elements that must be strictly preserved.
Other analyses necessary to establish the diagnosis are ANALYSIS OF MATERIALS (brick, mortar, plaster, wood) in order to determine their composition and their degree of resistance. If there are several types of materials, most of them should be tested. If there are areas with high humidity, humidity measurements in the depth of the walls or construction elements are also recommended. In the case of organic materials (wood), the biochemical analysis of the elements is also recommended, in order to establish if there are biological attacks and, if so, what kind.
The GEOTECHNICAL STUDY refers to the analysis of the soil and building foundations. It is done by surveying the foundations and analysing the soil layers to determine their resistance and the presence of moisture in the soil.
TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY is necessary to analyse the position of the house on the ground and how rainwater drains at ground level. Often around the old houses the land has risen in time and the waters flow wrong, towards the house, being one of the main factors of degradation.
All information collected is analysed in terms of structural stability (geometric composition – survey, strength of materials and soil, etc.) and establishes a complete diagnosis of the building as well as recommendations and priorities for intervention.
Another tour of workshops for children held at the manors looked after by Pro Patrimonio – Perticari- Davila Manor in Izvoru village, Neamțu Manor in Olari village and Golescu villa in Câmpulung – has come to an end. This second tour was coordinated by our generous Andreea Machidon supported by dedicated and special volunteers. For the very first time, we would like to thank one of the mothers, Daniela Marchidan, who has worked with patience and care with the children as well as with her 10-year old son. They have helped not only in the organization, but also in the process of creating objects. We also give our warm thanks to the extremely creative and fun Isabella Madauna, architecture student.
The theme of this tour around the manors was getting close to and understanding nature and natural elements by means of observation and reinterpreted drawing. The teams of children from the three manors managed to paint botanical elements on lunch-box type pouches suitable for gatehring plants, leaves or nuts and which will soon be on sale. They also designed their own pencil-case type minipouches for school which they personalized using the stamp technique after having made their ow FIMO stamps.
They managed to create an adorable series of colourful agendas using a simple method of book binding. These are to be their private agendas with modules they can change by themselves once they run out of clean pages. A very useful instrument for their future creative development is the notion of font that they found out about and which they exercised on their new agendas. The work was done outside in Neamțu Manor and Golescu Villa, the children fully enjoying nature, while at Izvoru the workshop took place inside the canteen rebuilt during the former workshops.
Tour of the Manors is the second from the series this year and is part of a more ample Pro Patrimonio Foundation project, Education for Heritage undergo this year under the umbrella of the European Year of Cultural Heritage #EuropeForCulture, #EYCH2018
