URBAN REGENERATION
THE ARCHYFEST EVENT, ORGANIZED BY UAUIM BUCHAREST, CO-FINANCED BY BUCHAREST CITY HALL THROUGH ARCUB WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE BUCHAREST AT HOME 2023 PROGRAM, TOOK PLACE BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 29 AND OCTOBER 1, ON EDGAR QUINETS STREET, IT WAS OFFERED TO BUCHAREST RESIDENTS OF ALL AGES THEM, INTERESTED IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN SPACE, AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER THE FIELD AND ITS REPRESENTATIVES IN ALL THEIR IMPOSES.
During the three days, the street between the Faculty of Architecture and the University of Bucharest was transformed into a space for exploration and experimentation. Visitors discovered objects created by architects, participated in workshops and workshops for adults and children organized by architecture offices and non-profit associations, viewed exhibitions, installations, architecture books, formals that include architects, music, food & drinks and many others.
The X Architedure & Engineering (XAE) office participated with the recently completed One Cotroceni Park project, which will expand with One Cotroceni Tcwers. For the new extension, the project is in the concept and PUD (detailed urban plan) phase, respectively in the population consultation period. For XAE this proved to be a suitable opportunity to show its openness to the public and to receive first-hand feedback on what the general public wants for the city, an objective view from outside the industry. see the film of the event, at the team of architects from XAE that got involved in the project: "We gathered a team of volunteers, especially from our youngest architects, and we designed a pavilion with three 3 zones, 2 interactive and one of exposure. The first interactive area was the awareness of the 2 preys (realized and future): 4 displayed questions were answered if the curious visitor looked through a tunnel, where the answer was in the image he saw at the end of the tunnel. The second area is the exhibition area: graphic material, photo and text presentation of the 2 projects, exhibited in a closed route, which allows segregation from the hustle and bustle of the street. The third area proposed interaction, where we invited the public to play with a volumetric puzzle. I made a model of the volumes built from One Cotroceni Towers, and I cut out the puzzle pieces and painted them in colors specific to certain categories of functions. In the evening we had large-scale projections on the walls of the pavilion, in parallel we led guided tours in One Mircea Eliade and One Cotroceni Park For those who wanted this when they visited us, arrangements in our offices in OneTower, the office building and all public areas in the ensemble, accompanied by technical and concept explanations. We enjoyed many visitors to the pavilion, including children, from Bucharest and beyond - tourists, former XAE collaborators, former colleagues and school teachers. (Text: ELLE DECORATION)
ARCH. MĂDĂLINA ROȘCA:
,,It has been a fabulous experience for us from the concept stage to implementation and completion. A whole adventure I realized how well we function as a team, we are people with initiative, who involved body and soul The festival started on Friday at 14:00 and lasted for 3 days. A tremendous effort was made by the team to stay in several shifts, to supervise and, above all, to interact with passers-by. A lot of curious people came to see what was happening at our pavilion - on the one hand there were children imagining how to arrange different functions in our model with towers. They put hotel floors on top of office floors, then residential floors, and - to see - most of them were looking for the modules of green spaces, sports and education.
They imagined how between the floors of offices, hotels and residences, you would certainly be good to go out on green, generous terraces and run or do sports in the gyms , looking over the city. The school must have been on the top floor, or maybe some playgrounds. There were also many adult visitors curious to interact with the pavilion. They peered through the disc-covered tunnels to see what lay beyond. I met former teachers, former college colleagues. It was a good opportunity to make connections..
For me, the highlight was on Sunday at the guided tour at One Cotroceni Park. I was glad that people were receptive, asked questions, were curious to know about the materials used, about the design stages and execution, what are the implications and what role does the architect have in this whole process. It was a real joy and pleasure to meet special people, with an openness to everything that the job of an architect entails. And all I can say about the team is: hats off"
ARCH. RALUCA ŞTIRBESCU:
„For me, ArchyFest meant TEAM and emotion. Team because it made us put our minds together to create. The emotion of it leaves us discovered and perhaps judged by the inhabitants of the city that we try to improve day by day. It was our first exposure in the street, in front of a totally unknown and transient public, who look with fleeting, but curious and researching eyes, at something we create for them. I watched with excitement, a little fear even, as they go out of their way to discover what we have to offer and I loved it. I was happy to see interested people, people open to new things, of any age, who want to understand more what architecture means, to understand us."
ARCH. ALINA NĂSTASE:
„ArchyFest was a valuable opportunity to express and better understand our purpose as a team, as well as the joy of being together, to present and debate our aspirations and the passion that unites us. We had the opportunity to collaborate and support each other in a different context than the one we are used to, while also being able to talk about ourselves as people and make contact with those we address daily through our work."
ARCH. ALEXANDRU CUCU:
„From conception to completion, the ArchyFest pavilion was a new experience for most of the XAE team. We had to leave the comfort zone of the office and the construction site and imagined what it would be like to create an installation through which people would know us. And so it happened, we even managed to get to know each other better."
STUD. ARCH. GEORGIAN STANCIU:
„For me, ArchyFest was a new experience, full of new challenges completed in a short time. We, the XAE team, proved to ourselves that we can assert ourselves with a pavilion designed and built in 2 weeks, create interactive games for art and design enthusiasts and support our architecture projects in front of people. As a 6th year student at UAUIM, architecture events were important in expanding my understanding of the field and connecting with industry professionals. In conclusion, ArchyFest was a great way to highlight innovative design and ideas, providing inspiration for professionals and enthusiasts alike."
CRISTINA DAMIAN:
,,I gladly participated in a brand new XAE mission. The successful ArchyFest is further proof that they are part of a multifunctional, united, creative and dynamic team."
ARCH. AMEDEEA CÂLȚEA:
„By organizing this project together, we discovered that we can all "build" something, being involved in a single action plan as a unitary whole. Thus, we felt that we belonged to the same beautiful group, with warm and friendly people. We had the opportunity to meet our fellow architects from other firms and thus we were able to get to know each other better. Finding out what we enjoy creating, both within the profession and in addition to it, we discovered that we have availability, when we do something with passion, and we can offer our extra time to cover the attendance for the entire duration of the event. I communicated directly with the technical team, with the IT team and projects for the presentation of the company, as well as with the construction team to assemble and install the structure of the pavilion. We managed to publicize our architecture firm, X Architecture and Engineering, and communicated directly with the people who came to the event. In addition, many of them took part in our guided tours within One Cotroceni Park and One Mircea Eliade, thanks to the interest we developed, through the whole concept presented at ArchyFest."
SONIA PALAVRA:
„I joined the X Architecture team relatively recently and was pleasantly surprised to be co-opted into this project, got to know my colleagues better, and faced the challenges that came from attending Archyfest. The experience itself increased internal cohesion and facilitated the exchange of very original ideas."
ARCH. ANDREI COSTIN ENE: 
ArchyFest and the opportunity to build the team. A welcome festival in the guild that started to gather the community and explain to people what we do, who we address and especially why architecture. I think it is important to understand that building a construction needs a team, the total involvement of its members makes it possible to carry out the projects. I often repeat something I discovered right after college, the fact that individual results are less important compared to team results. In an era where we are rather encouraged to become individuals, such events that succeed in bringing the community together are to be appreciated, and by participating and engaging the team in such an event, I think we have managed to prove involvement, collaboration, initiative and I think the most important thing is team spirit."
What conclusions did I draw after this Adventure? Two truths about ARCHITECTS and their work: The first truth - anecdotal: architects are always late. Why? Because they don't estimate the amount of work from the start - neither do they, and even less can those who benefit from their work realize what effort lies behind the creative act (conceptual and building). And the second: architecture is not individual. He also has a lot of teams behind him. It is the result of synergies in which many of us enter and put our creativity, many hours of our lives and all our openness into play. What is beautiful is that this adventure connects us. Project supported by One Properties, Siniat and Equitone.(Text: ELLE DECORATION)
