UNARTE – EXTENSION REHABILITATION AND RESTAURATION

National University of Arts

18 years after winning the competition, the first phase of the project comes to life and becomes part of the city

Extension and rehabilitation of National University of Arts
National competition 2008, first prize
Bucharest, Romania

Client:
UNARTE
Project duration:
2008 – 2026
Gross area:
5.485 m²

The National University of Arts is one of the traditional education institutions of the city, an important landmark with a notable history; it is spatially distributed among multiple headquarters located in the central area that is part of an urban tissue of great complexity. In this stratified, rich and complicated context, the study of the place and neighborhood was essential and its conclusions have further pointed out the solution.The site evolution is characterized by gradual densification achieved through completion, extension, merge, intersection, reuse, potting, fusion, and, more rarely, by demolition.This growth by addition generated another kind of spaces, organically grown and physically and visually interwoven by overlapping and transparency.
It is a specific typo-morphology, with a variety of intermediary spaces, each in itself a particular situation of exploitation of difficult site conditions.

Our proposal subscribes to this line of growth, becoming another moment of the same evolution, in which closure and overlapping do not exclude permeability and intense inner life. The proposed buildings cannot exist without the space and objects surrounding them. The organic evolution of built matter generates relationships of simultaneity, ambiguity and interdependence between different objects added in time. This type of fragile and complicated urban structure, while being especially significant for the everyday dimension, requires a different type of perception. Its appropriation is intuitive, tactile, auditory, olfactory senses rather than visual. Orientation is protected by the other senses. Architecture is measured in steps, sound, smell, touch, taste, intuition. Ambivalent perception generates an abundance of meanings, the sensorial one being most of the time the most fertile.

The site embedded values become even more precious if only suggested, rather than being fully put forward. The project seeks the joy of discovery, thus enhancing the significant core. Nearness, intimacy, emotion are related to detail, human scale, unexpected views, surface modulated air masses, trees, birds and sky.

Our intervention consists in maintaining and adapting all of the existing elements on site (construction, vegetation, blind-walls) and adding new ones by building on the south side and connecting the whole by means of the open courtyard and a subterranean floor.
The core building (C2) takes over the representation role of the University and shelters inside the prestigious spaces of the historical monument the University Art Gallery (groundfloor), The Senate Hall (attic) and the management and administration offices (1st and subterranean floors).
The northern building (C1) contains most of the classrooms and seminar rooms, with all necessary ancillary areas. The old library is remodelled and gets connected to the surrounding buildings by means of a new a basement floor. The new buildings (C4, C6) contain workshop rooms with open and specific study program. The public ground floor and underground spaces allow for a porous limit towards the street while maintaining the intimacy and the tranquillity of the inland area.

Our intervention consists in maintaining and adapting all of the existing elements on site (construction, vegetation, blind-walls) and adding new ones by building on the south side and connecting the whole by means of the open courtyard and a subterranean floor. The core building (C2) takes over the representation role of the University and shelters inside the prestigious spaces of the historical monument the University Art Gallery (groundfloor), The Senate Hall (attic) and the management and administration offices (1st and subterranean floors).
The northern building (C1) contains most of the classrooms and seminar rooms, with all necessary ancillary areas. The old library is remodeled and gets connected to the surrounding buildings by means of a new a basement floor. The new buildings (C4, C6) contain workshop rooms with open and specific study program. The public groundfloor and underground spaces allow for a porous limit towards the street while maintaining the intimacy and the tranquility of the inland area.

The new spaces activate both the existing built heritage and the subtle relationships between buildings, courtyards, and circulation routes, shaped by the successive layers of the campus’s development over time. The intervention aims to reinforce these connections and to transform the interstitial spaces between buildings into active areas of encounter, movement, and exchange of ideas. The resulting ensemble is permeable and open, where the architectural experience is defined not only by individual built objects, but also by the relationships established between them.

The UNArte Pinacoteca functions as a permanent exhibition space dedicated to the university’s artistic heritage, providing access to a valuable collection of paintings, sculptures, graphic works, and historical documents. Conceived both as an exhibition space and as an educational instrument, it contributes to the valorisation of the institution’s memory and to bringing the public closer to the artistic heritage accumulated over time.

The new Library accommodates a collection of approximately 60,000 volumes and complements the academic infrastructure through a contemporary space dedicated to study, research, and documentation. Open to students, faculty members, and researchers, the library becomes a place of convergence between knowledge resources, academic activity, and the artistic community, fostering dialogue between education, research, and practice.