The pandemic highlighted the need for beautiful, rich outdoor public spaces that are accessible to anyone, free of charge

Last year, the Bucharest branch of the Romanian Order of Architects launched Urban Agenda, a virtual meeting place for the inhabitants and architects of the capital, where topics related to the quality of life in the city, in relation to the built space, are debated.

architect Irina Melita coordinates this important project and says, among other things, that people have become more and more attentive to what surrounds them. From nature and climate change, to the quality of public spaces in which I live professionally and socially.

“We will be able to do more and more activities together, if we want, from work (maybe the idea of ​​office building will change radically) to share a dinner. Public / common spaces will also accommodate these possibilities. In Romania there is a need for a better and more efficient civic traction, clearer and stricter desires and expectations from citizens to the authorities. “

About you

Probably the fact that my father was also an architect mattered a lot for the path I chose, being from a small part of this world. I am currently a partner and founder of the office POSTER, together with Stefan Simion, and vice-president of the Order of Architects of Romania, Bucharest branch.

Style and vision

I don’t think we have a style (nor do I think we want a style :)). A vision, yes, but it varies and is very particular depending on the project, there are some major, recurring themes that interest us. Apart from the college period when, either through a special teacher or even through my own curiosity you discover a lot, we were certainly influenced by the experiences we had while studying or working in other countries, together or separately.

The most important teachings

There are many teachings on different levels. I learned to listen and be patient, to perceive a project as a whole and at the same time to pay attention to details. And I think I became a better “judge of characters”

🙂 It’s very important in what we do. You always learn from the people you meet … Parents, teachers, partners, friends, clients, collaborators, even from birds you can learn something !!

From the pandemic

The most important aspect that the pandemic highlighted was the need for beautiful, rich outdoor public spaces that can accommodate various activities and that are accessible to anyone, free of charge.

Impact on your projects

To be honest, I didn’t feel this period at all as a crisis, I had quite a lot of work, the only difference was that we adapted to collaborate with everyone from a distance.

What were people looking for?

I don’t think it will be a surprise, it was a pretty visible phenomenon, an escape from the cities. People sought nature.

The most important project in 2020

I would talk about the most special project, because there were several important projects, but for me the fact that I initiated and coordinated the launch of the Urban Agenda platform was intense and interesting, it forced me to analyze and synthesize some dense topics, in order to be transmitted as easily as possible.

Urban Agenda is a project of OAR Bucharest that aims to bring 10 important topics for the people of Bucharest to their attention, the idea being that the launch of the site should take place before the local elections, so that the impact of the provoked discussions is reflected in an informed vote.

Market changes

I don’t know … were they? Without the fact that we talked about earlier that it seems that the demand for mountain houses has increased, I do not know.

Like I said, I don’t know how to talk about trends and styles because we were never interested. As for what we do, I think it is becoming more and more a luxury, it is possible that the market will be more and more occupied by very large offices that work very large projects for very large investors. We are not part of this category and we do not want to become a very large office. Just a very good one! 🙂

What has replaced communist gray in the last 30 years?

I don’t want to give the predictable answer (in pink) and I’m also optimistic, so I’ll say that it was replaced with large openings, with glass.

The relationship of people with the environment

In good. I think that people are and will become more and more attentive to what surrounds them, because they are beginning to realize that this greatly determines the quality of life. And that’s very good. And for nature protection and attention to climate change and to increase the quality of built space in cities.

The future of public space

Apart from what I said above, I think that in the more distant future we will end up sharing more and more things in these meeting places, public spaces. We will be able to do more and more activities together, if we want, from work (maybe the idea of ​​office building will change radically) to share a dinner. Public / common spaces will also accommodate these possibilities. In Romania there is a need for a better and more efficient civic traction, clearer and stricter desires and expectations from citizens to the authorities. Once there is a sufficiently strong demanding force, things will start to change visibly.

At the beginning of the year

I am very impatient about 2021 because POSTER won the competition last year to represent Romania at the Venice Architecture Biennale, with the Fading Borders project, which will talk about migration, answering the theme of the biennial: “How will we live together?” which has acquired completely different connotations after 2020. So we are looking forward to the Biennale, which will open on May 22nd. I hope to tell more on the site soon Fading Borders.