Denisa Badoi

Year of studies: 3rd
Program: Collective housing
Collaborators: Azap Bianca
Brief: The brief called for an apartment building, 6 stories high with the last two stories retreated from the main facade in order to comply with zone regulations regarding height and an angle of 45 degrees with the opposing building that the new building could not surpass. There were also other strict building regulations to be respected, such as a maximum built area and occupation of the lot, a maximum volume, minimum retreating from the lot’s limits, etc. Beside the urban parameters, there was also a requirement for a minimum of 13 apartments to be included, with a common space with laundry and driers and a separate space for lent to commercial businesses.
Summary: We experimented with all the limitations the site imposed in order to find the simplest way to respond to all of them, while still developing a coherent project. Rather than imposing a predetermined view of how we might have wanted the building to be, and then having to mold it and squeeze it to fit the regulations, we started to build from the limits themselves. Consequently, the 45 degree angle that we could not pass after a certain height became the apparent sloped roof of the building and gave it its house-like look, when in fact the image hides the two retreated floors. There was also a problem of connecting the new tall structure with an existing groundfloor neighbouring house. This was solved using the rental space as an extension of the building, forming a landscape for our building and a transition point for the neighbouring house.