Romanian architecture studio ADN Birou de Arhitectura, has recently designed Dogarilor Apartment Building, a new residential development located in the central area of Bucharest. The development aims to target the problematic aspects of the fast densification of Bucharest’s central area, as the city still lacks appropriate regulations and mechanisms to control it. The project was shortlisted this year for the World Architecture Festival, in the Housing category.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
We, as architects, believe that density can and many times must be seen as a form of sustainability, but we admit that the often fragile relationship between density, habitation and the existing neighborhood could most of the times alter the place and reduce its qualities.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Our project is looking for an appropriate answer to this problem. It tries to mediate between different sizes and densities, in a quite central neighborhood characterized by small streets, long, narrow plots and a puzzle of old and new buildings of all types and scales.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
The architects acknowledge the continuous change and instability of the neighbourhood and the city as a whole, taking into consideration how the building will most likely change in time, due to people’s inevitable interventions on the exterior and interior. The facade of the apartment building was designed to account for future ‘vernacular’ changes.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
The apartment complex is composed of two 5-storey buildings connected through underground floors, and a small public square. The volume of the building facing the street was designed less compact, featuring transparency on the ground floor to allow a better visual connection at eye level.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
In this way, we have also tried to mediate between the continuous alignment required by the urban regulation and the specific of the street and of the surrounding urban fabric, characterized by fragmentation.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
The project proposes a type of habitation the architects consider suitable for the centre of a capital city, incorporating small apartments that appeal to a diverse population. Most of the apartments were designed different from one another, not only in size, but most important in typology.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
The apartments range from single bedroom – to four-bedroom apartments with private courtyards, balconies or terraces in different sizes. They are all complemented by several indoor and outdoor common spaces such as large halls, party rooms and terraces. The ground floor offers several commercial spaces to rent, with view either towards the street or the inner courtyard.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
The apartment units were designed to offer a great deal of flexibility, giving the possibility to connect horizontally or vertically, two or more small units into a larger one. Such changes have occurred all along the construction process, leading, in the end, at a building consisting of 64 residential units offering approximately 50 types of apartments.
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © Cosmin Dragomir
Image © ADN Birou de Arhitectura
Image © ADN Birou de Arhitectura
Facts:
Architects: ADN Birou de Arhitectura
Location: Strada Dogarilor 30, Bucharest, Romania
Design Team: Andrei Șerbescu, Adrian Untaru, Claudiu Forgaci, Valentina Ţigâră, Bogdan Brădăţeanu, Simina Ignat
Interior Design: ADN BA, Simina Ignat
Area: 8537.0 m²
Year: 2014
Photography: Cosmin Dragomir
*All information courtesy of ADN BA via World Architecture Festival.
