Denisa Badoi

Competition: C.A.S.A 2014 - Annual Competition of Student Architects

Program: Collective housing for artists

Title: The Gallery

Collaborators: independent project

Credits: Honorable Mention

Brief: The competition called for the design of collective housing for artists in Baia Mare, in honor of the city’s long tradition in harbouring artist’s communities. The site for the competition was chosen specifically to play on the important role artists had in the history and future of the city, it was a site in the historical center, facing the church and opening up onto a great public square. It was a competition for students in their second year of studies for the Bachelor’s degree so overall the competition focused more on the creative thinking part of architecture, rather than the technical part.

Summary: The project took great inspiration from the very way of life of the artists it was meant to serve, specifically on the two defining poles that govern an artist’s life: the creative process and the displaying process. Consequently, the project was organized into two organisms, a more private one, the apartments and workshops where the artists lived and created, and an underground gallery that literally supported the construction. The gallery could also be converted into an interactive workshop and was meant as an experience for the visitors. The gallery engulfed the apartment building to the point that the latter seamed to float on it. To represent the interraction between the two organisms, the main facade, facing the church, was designed not as a wall, but as a space. The space opened up on 4 levels, including the one of the gallery, and it enclosed the balconies of the apartments as well. The interactive balconies were the last detail in the communication between the two organisms, they could retreat inside the apartments or open up into the more common space, giving the artists the option to choose if and when they were going to combine the creative process with the displaying process.