studioBASAR

studioBASAR was established in 2006 by Alex Axinte and Cristi Borcan, both as an architec-tural studio and a team of urban observation and intervention. Preoccupied in the last years with the dynamics of local urban culture and disappearing importance of public spaces in transitional Bucharest, studioBASAR’s projects range from public space interventions, art in-stallations, urban research, educational work-shops to competitions and different typologies of residential and public buildings.

Awards2014European Prize for Urban Public Space 2014 - Public Bath - finalist project - Barcelona, ESPBucharest Architecture Annual - University Square - Stud-ies category - Prize / The Tool Box - Object Design - Nomi-nation / A block with 6 courtyards - Nomination2013Bucharest Architecture Annual - Pif in Romania, a golden age hero - Interior Design Section - NominationCompetition ‘Refurbishing the public space in the centre of Sibiel’ - MentionPrahova Architecture Bienial 2001-2012 - Gateway Cabin - Civil and Industrial Architecture category - Prize / Public Equipments - Design of Public Space category - Prize / The Seductiveness of the Interval - Interventions on Exist-ing Buildings and Design category - Nomination2012Competition ‘Reorganizing and Designing of Ramnicu Valcea’s Central Public Space’ - Special Mention2011Competition ‘Rehabilitation and planning of ‘Johannes Honterus’ Courtyard - Braşov, Romania’ - 2nd placeBucharest Architecture Annual - Evicting the Ghost. Archi-tectures of Survival - Best Architecture Book AwardCompetition ‘Would be City - Galati 2050 episode’ - One of the 10 finalists2010Competition ‘Functional and architectural rehabilitation of the Ploiesti Racecourse for the realization of an Equita-tion and Leisure Centre’ - 1st place2009Bucharest Architecture Annual - The Sparrows Tree - Nomination2009Venice Art Biennale - Romanian Pavilion - artists: Stefan Constantinescu, Andrea Faciu, Ciprian Muresan, curator: Alina Serban, expo design: studioBASAR) - 1st place in the national competition2008Bucharest National Architecture Biennale - Search and Rescue: CITY - Arhitecture Publication category - Nomi-nation2007Visual Eurobarometer - Evicting the Ghost. Architectures of Survival - One of the 5 medals

In 2009 studioBASAR did the exhibition design for The Seductiveness of the Interval project as the Romanian Pavilion at the Art Biennale in Venice, itinerated in 2010 at The Renais-sance Society in Chicago, and in 2010 published the book Evicting the Ghost. Architectures of Survival, awarded Best Book at the Bucharest Architectural Annual. In 2012/2013 they were the grant holders of an IASPIS residency in Stockholm. In 2014, their project Public Bath was finalist at European Prize for Urban Public Space.

Bucureşti, RomâniaPost address: Nicolae Racotă St. 4, bl. 69, sc. A, ap.26, Sector 1, 011392E-mail: contact@studiobasar.roWeb: www.studiobasar.ro

ArchitectureA block with six courtyards - 2009/2013 - Ploieşti, ROEroilor Extension - 2009/2010 - Bucureşti, ROHouse - 2010/2011 - Baloteşti, ROGateway Cabin - 2010 - Ariceştii Rahtivani, ROHorse Racecourse - 2010 - Ploieşti, RO

Bucharest Architecture Annual / 2014 - Housing category - Nomination.

Team: Alex Axinte, Cristi BorcanCivil engineer: Lucian Stanciu, Mihai Pavel(Altfel Construct)Mechanical engineer: Florentina Radu, Mirela Neculai, Alexandru DamianConstructor: Blue SpotLocation: Mărăşeşti street nr. 270, PloieştiClient: BaupartnerTotal surface: 571 sqmPeriod: 2009-2013

The building engages the fragmentary condition of the city fabric like a collage of local practices, and is recessed on the footprint of the unfinished boulevard, dividing the long and narrow plot into a hidden courtyard in the back and an open one towards the street.On one side of the building, a series of deep openings are organizing the interior of each level around ‘interi-or courtyards’. The geometry and the usages between these courtyards and the interior spaces refer to the ambiguous condition of the context - partially planned, partially vernacular - borrowing from its proximity the fragmentary expression enriched by extensions or ad-hoc makeshifts. These intermediary spaces connects the new housing with the diverse neighborhood’s environment, like the closed balconies of the flats across the street, the orchard trees and poultries from the nearby yards, the rusted metal rockets of the military unit’s enclosure or the sounds of the night trains.

A block with sixcourtyardshttp://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=4862&lang=en

Urban designTUB/PIDU - 2007/ongoing - Bucharest, ROConstructed Culture - 2013 - Sibiel, ROCentral Public Space - 2012 - Râmnicu Vâlcea, ROJohannes Honterus - 2011 - Braşov, ROCiprian Porumbescu - 2011 - Braşov, ROBack to the Future - 2011 - Galaţi, ROLivada Poştei - 2011 - Braşov, ROBrezoianu Transfer - 2008/2009 - Bucharest, RO

Competition: Rehabilitation and planning of Johannes Honterus Courtyard, Braşov - 2nd Place.

Team: Alex Axinte, Cristi Borcan, Radu Leşevschi(studioBASAR), Bogdan Gyemant-Selin, Ioana Tudora, Diana Culescu, Mihai Culescu, Ioana Streza, Christian Voinescu (RPR Birou de Studii Contemporane), Claudiu Forgaci, Alexandru Tudose (renderings),Şerban Popescu-Criveanu, Mircea Crişan (restoration experts)Location: Braşov, RomaniaPeriod: 2011

The space around Black Church in Brasov, compared to nearby Council Square (Piata Sfatului), is a private court-yard, but open to anyone, with a mixture of religious and educational functions, which gives it a domestic scale and an almost intimate atmosphere, intensified also by the particularity of urban forms and materials kept in place for hundreds of years.Honterus Courtyard deploys today between grandeur on one side and modesty and simplity on the other, a natu-ral thing taking into account its history and the values it represents.This duality of the space will be emphasized by subordi-nating the interventions to the courtyard’s image struc-tured in time, and by the series of spaces - Courtyards - activated and generated in the project. The individualized character of these courtyards is also determined by the way they work and the way they are arranged. A series of urban furniture objects provokes and intensifies the spe-cific use of each courtyard, delimiting them, and at the same time letting the space to be fluid and continuous.

Johannes Honterus

http://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=3700&lang=en

ScenographyThe Art of Urban Practice - 2014 - Graz, ATVision of a Nation - 2014 - Oslo, NOThe Hour Broadcast - 2013 - Konjic, BAŞtefan Constantinescu - 2013 - Gothenburg, SEPif in Romania, a golden age hero - 2010 - Bucharest, ROEvicting the Ghost - 2010 - Bucharest, ROA51–51 Architecture Bureaus - 2010 - Bucharest, ROThe Seductivness of the Interval - 2010 - Chicago, USAThe Seductivness of the Interval - 2009 - Venice, IT

Location: The Romanian Pavilion - 53rd International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, 2009; The Renais-sance Society at The University of Chicago, 2010

Exhibition area: 197 sqm Venice, 332 sqm Chicago

Artists: Ştefan Constantinescu, Andrea Faciu, Ciprian MureşanCommssioner: Monica Morariu (Ministry of Culture, Religious Affairs and National Heritage)Curator: Alina Şerban, assistant curator: Livia PancuExhibition Design: Alex Axinte, Cristi Borcan, collaborator - Livia Andreea Ivanovici, structural engeneer: Cristi BotoiProject Manager: Mirela DuculescuStage design production: MOB HOUSE, BucharestFinanced by: Ministry of Culture, Religious Affairs and National HeritageIn partnership with: Rumanska Kulturinstitutet, Instituto Romeno di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica

The exhibition from 2010 from The Renaissance Society - University of Chicago constitutes a traveling version of the Venice project.

Supported by: The Renaissance Society at the Univer-sity of Chicago, Romanian Cultural Institute - New York, Romanian Cultural Institute - Bucharest.

The Seductivness of the Intervalhttp://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=2399&lang=en

Photo: Tom Van Eynde © The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago

Photo: Cătălin Rulea

StudiesUniversity Square - 2012 - 2013In Between Bucureşti - 2012Between - Kilobase - 2011Ailanthus Altissima - 2010Normal of Bucharest - 2008Habitat of Bucharest - 2008Evicting the Ghost - 2006/2010Graz the Usual City - 2006

Bucharest Architecture Annual / 2011 - Best Architecture Book Award.

Authors: Alex Axinte and Cristi BorcanLegal consultant: Sofia MihăilescuEditorial Concept: Alina ŞerbanAssistant: Livia Andreea IvanoviciTexts by: Ole Bouman, Cătălin Berescu, Liviu Chelcea, Yona Friedman, Ştefan Ghenciulescu, Iulia Modiga, Damiana Oţoiu, Doina Petrescu, Lavinia Stan, Kai Vöckler, Filippo M. Zerilli & Marie-Bénédicte Dembour, Srdjan Jovanovic WeissTranslation: Alistair Ian Blyth, Irina Creangă, Claudia Rada, Alina ŞerbanProofreading: Carla Albert, Alistair Ian Blyth, Irina Creangă, Sofia Mihăilescu, Roxana SzelDesign: Cătălin RuleaPublished by: Center for Visual Introspection/ pepluspat-ru AssociationThe book was published with the support of the Admin-istrației Fondului Cultural Național and The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation.The editor would like to thank for the support from: The Kingdom of the Netherlands.Partners: Simetria, Arhitectura, ArhitextYear: 2006-2010

The book Evicting the Ghost. Architectures of Survival exam-ines a specific phenomenon of recent Romanian social histo-ry: nationalization, retrocession, eviction. The study presents the multifaceted reality of forced evictions and includes information about the legislative history of these evictions, the uncertain status of private property owners in Romania over the last one and a half centuries, the stages of evic-tion, the stories of a number of families subjected to these measures and a typology of the dwelling places developed by those evicted, expressions of nowadays urban survival.The case studies are presented in the form of an archive, but they can be seen as dioramas of the conflicts and disturbances suffered by post-1989 Romanian Society. Ap-proached with the distance characteristic of a scientific atlas book, the research highlights the fight for survival, played here against the setting of a contemporary city and the pre-carious balance between the institutionalized discourse of the rule of law and the present condition of the individual.

Evicting the Ghost

http://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=2027&lang=en

ActionsThe ‘89 Box - 2014 - Cluj, Timişoara, ROThe Toolbox - 2013/ongoing - Bucharest, ROMy Place / Behind the Flats - 2013 - ongoing, Sinaia, ROView on Water - 2012 - Bucharest, ROPublic Bath - 2012 - Bucharest, ROStep by Step - 2011/2014 - Braşov, ROParc du Cirque - 2011 - Geneva, CHThe Pyramid of Garguromin - 2011 - Bucharest, RORe:Start - 2011 - Sinaia, RO

European Prize for Urban Public Space Barcelona / 2014 - Finalist project.

Team: Alex Axinte, Cristi Borcan, Dezso Floriska KovacsLocation: Arthur Verona street, BucharestPeriod: June 2012

In the framework of the seventh edition of the annual urban culture festival on Arthur Verona Street in Bucha-rest, entitled Street Delivery, we tested a new public instrument that investigates the future of uses in the case of pedestrian streets, beyond the limits of the existing layouts, where just the window-shopping, walking in the park or consuming beer in waves are the only few models of public spaces in the city.

As a reference to the city’s memory of such moments where the rules are suspended by natural or social causes, the installation was set as a blockade and possible utopia, provoking a 1:1 temporary vision over the relationship between the water and the city inhab-itants. In contrast with previous eras, the public water in Bucharest lost any capacity to generate interaction, ending just to please the administrative eye or accessible by payment under different names as aqua park, spa or wellness centers. In the hot summer days of Bucharest’s city center we installed a Public Bath as an unexpected bathing place grown upon a pedestrian street, in the middle of a street festival increasingly transforming into a fair. A team of few people rose with minimal means a rectangular edge of stacked rented pallets straight on the street asphalt and laid in between and tied it with ropes a banner printed with the city map, similar with the ones that are covering its facades. From nearby gardens water poured from hoses transforming instantly a parking area into a splatter place, meeting and resting point, stage for concerts and projections.

Public Bath

http://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=3958&lang=en

Photo: Mirela Duculescu

EquipmentRoadside stage - 2014/ongoing - Chişinău, MDSparrow Pipe Fitter - 2014/ongoing - Bucharest, ROIn the schoolyard - 2013/ongoing - Bucharest, ROApartment extension - 2012/ongoing - Chişinău, MDPassage X - 2012 - Tbilisi, Georgia, GEThe Generator - 2009/2010 - Bucharest, ROThe Totem - 2010 - Bucharest, ROThe Letter Bench - 2009/ongoing - Bucharest, ROThe Sparrow Tree - 2008 - Bucharest, RO

Team: Alex Axinte, Cristi Borcan; Vladimir Turturică, Tudor Prodan (2010); Bogdan Brăescu, Diana Iordache, Simina Purcaru, Florina Pop, Ioana Păvălucă, Sofia Mihăilescu, Roxana Szel, Mihai Culescu (2011); George Marinescu (2013); Maria Daria Oancea, Radu Cornea, Corina Ciurlea, Radu Leşevschi (2014)Location: Arthur Verona street , Cărtureşti Bookstore, BucharestPeriod: since 2009

The object was installed in June 2009, in the framework of fourth edition of the annual urban culture event on Ar-thur Verona Street in Bucharest, entitled Street Delivery. In June 2010, at Street Delivery #5, the object received a new wrapping, formed through the lamination of a layer of newspaper pages, books and black and white comics. The intervention was initiated by Mirela Duculescu and supported by architect Şerban Sturdza and the Romanian Order of Architects. Since 2009 the structure is constantly repaired and wrapped each year during the festival days.

The Letter Bench

http://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=1828&lang=en

Photo: Costin Gheorghe

EducationPassing by - 2014 - Iaşi, ROUrban_dream_space - 2014 - Bucharest, ROIntermediary Spaces - 2013 - Kassel, DEReclaimed Spaces - 2013 - Chişinău, MDMobile Park - 2012/2013 - Cluj, ROSpaces of Representation - 2013 - Timişoara, ROMy Place - Ideas - 2012 - Sinaia, ROMy Place - At the Steps - 2012 - Sinaia, ROUrban Divan - 2011 - Brno, CZ

The educational process is often based on exercises of accumulation, testing or experimenting, developed in laboratory-like conditions, away from the study subject. The series of workshops aims to be an informal edu-cational ‘live project’, engaged in the real time of the local urban condition. Alternative means of public space production can be practiced, beyond the answers of the administration, economic agents or the entertainment society. In the framework of each of the workshops we try to examine the methods of public interventions and also to question their long term contribution as tools of making the public space a product of its users. Structured by themes specific to each of the urban contexts, the workshops move quickly from concept to the final pro-ject, through actions of mapping, evaluating, organizing, communicating and designing, passing through working with a budget, legal permits and real users, until the final stages of production of the intervention.

Public Space Workshops

http://www.studiobasar.ro/?p=4963&lang=en

Ongoing projectsUrban Spaces in Action - since 2014 - Bucharest, ROMy Place - since 2012 - Sinaia, RO

The project is coordinated by the Komunitas Association, in partnership with tranzit.ro, Sports and Youth Depart-ment of Bucharest (Direcția pentru Sport și Tineret a Mu-nicipiului București), ArtWe Association and is supported by the group of architects of studioBasar.

Urban spaces in action is an interdisciplinary project, combining elements of urban planning, urban anthropol-ogy, architecture and education for young people.

The project is taking place between the 1st of May 2014 and 30th of October 2015 and the activities will take place in 3 neighborhoods of Bucharest: Tei, Tineretului and Timpuri Noi.

The project approaches 3 neighborhoods from Bucharest in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner, working on several complementary plans covering the following activities:- performing urban socio-anthropological research aimed at investigating the practices of public spaces usings in 3 neighborhoods of Bucharest (Tei, Tineretului, Timpuri Noi);- dissemination and public discussion of the research findings;- civic and urban education activities for teenagers attending educational institutions in the three neighbor-hoods, based on innovative methods of work designed by Komunitas Association members;- animation and activating urban spaces through partici-patory urban interventions;- organizing community events designed to bring res-idents together and build a sense of the community (events like “Quarter Day” and urban festivals in the neighborhood);- producing resource publications that provide informa-tion and know-how about the interdisciplinary project methods and the ability to be replicated;- communication and visibility events during the project (conferences, seminars etc.).

Urban Spaces in Action

http://spatii-urbane.ro/english/