a <3 4 i aie jw Issue 3: June Pal ‘ Meat RNATIONAL BRITISH SCI Ce gamStaff & Editorial Teacher Coordinators: Ms Andrea Carman Mr Paul Jennings Dilara ¥. (Year 12), Milena V. (Year 8), Doga S. (Year 8), Stephani L. (Year 8), Matei C. (Year 10), kathleen H. (Year 7), Meea S. (Year 7), Utku B. (Year 7), Bogdan D. (Year 7), Pietro B. (Year 7) Melissa A. (Year 7), Ronny B. (Year, Filip. (Year 7), Gruia P. (Year 7), Sophia C. (Year8C), Anda |. (Year 8C), loan C (Year 8C) MrSilviuNastase Kevin Zhan (Year 12) Mr Kendall Pe Ms Andrea Carman MrCCprian Tiplea ‘Mr Afzal Shaikh Ms Katie Bickell Mss Johanna Croci ssy Savu ‘Ms loana Dumitrescu Mr Valentin Mandache Ms Alida Ivan ‘Ms Cristina Marascu ‘Ms Diana Lia Office Staff Contact Information: Layout Address: 21 Agricultor St. Dist Bucharest, Romania, 021841 MsLea Cohen Mr Florin Ghita Contents Pee es Peo) eos eee td Cee} 13 TheColour Run Coy een) ee od na Fa noo} cee rooms SEL 38 Hsteran Day as a ea) oy Cee ed rer es ceremony eed oer SU ed Ee eas ey Pe ee) or) Pee CG Ces54 challenge, | remembered my time when I was their age, In the stern, joyless and regimented education system of ‘communist Romania. To my delight, the friendly gazes and hails which | received, dispelled immediately those concerns, This was the auspicious atmosphere in which I started my presentation entitled “How to read Bucharest’ old houses” The town had humble beginnings as a fording place among the swamps that existed here in the early Middle Ages, for sheep being herded between mountain and plain pastures. Bucharest is also midway between the Transylvanian Alps’ foothills to the north and the Danube to the south. What made ita capital for the Principality of Wellachia initially, was the power of the Ottoman Empire, the overlord ofthis part of Europe, who could control it more easily from their mighty garrison on the Danube at Ruse, now in Bulgaria. The architecture was thus Ottoman for an important stretch of Bucharest’ history. There are just a handful of remaining examples nowadays, most famous being Manuc Inn in ‘The opportunity to speak to students and teachers at the International British School of Bucharest came thrOuOh | jos-anj quarter. This fist major architectural development Facebook, where for some time now I have conducted a lively and captivating dialogue over my architectural and history subject postings with Mr. Afzal Shaikh, the history teacher at the school. He kindly accepted my proposal to present there ‘and arranged the time, space and logistics through the administrative chain to allow it to happen, of the town culminated in the 18th century with the Brancovan style: a mixture of local, Ottoman and European, baroque motifs, seen today in its glory in the building of Stravopoleos church, for example. Bucharest is the sixth largest town of the European Union. tt is my job, as an architectural historian, to make “order” of the jumble of building shapes, design fashions, and layers of urban history. 1 write 2 blog called ‘Historic Houses of Romania - Case de Epoca’, and am also active on Facebook ‘and Instagram | also conduct tours, courses and seminars on this subject; trying to spread the word as much as possible ‘among the public about the ‘built heritage’ of this corner of South East Europe; a fascinating, but less known chapter of the world’s architectural history. | trained in the history and ciulisation of South East Europe, (@.region also known as the Balkans), at The London School of Economics and Political Science, my alma mater. As | began. Brancovan Stravopoleos Church to write, 1 was told that your output should be €2SI the geopolitical upheavals of the 19th century when the Understood by people trom all walks of life, and by alter peur Russian and Ottoman empires cashed in the area age groups. That is in my opinion one of the main strengths hich would Fiver lft also 6 viskia tek Gn th of the British academic system the ability to communicates chitecture of B si ais kote, Ghekere- started 15 withthe wider publi | ried to put this principle to good use Yt se bea im this presentation! ‘There was another process happening at the same time [At about 9.20am the students started to arrive and fil p the whereby Bucharest was also adopting western ideas of classroom. Meeting their eyes | thought of it as a bit of a nationality and culture, such as the French language, whichinitially was popularised among the middie classes by the Russian imperial officers, themselves speakers of French. It was the language of the European aristocracy, and the officers stationed in the capital embraced the exotic new language. That trend culminated with the formation of the national state, (Bucharest being upgraded as the capital of new Romania), and independence from Istanbul in 1878. The architecture for the period until The Great War, known as ‘La Belle Epoque’, was built with money resulting from the massive grain exports to industrialising Western Europe. There ‘was a conscious emulation of the types of buildings in France, the country considered by the locals as the beacon of civilization: the bigger Latin sister: it was a period of rapid Europeanisation after nearly half a millennium of domination by a Middle Eastern power and civilsation. This period imprinted the identity of the town as the ‘Little Paris of the Balkans’, and, in my opinion, its provincial aspect, (in-between textbook architecture and vernacular), deserves the umbrella term of The Little Paris’ style. ‘The drive to Europeanise started to be met with resistance ‘towards the end of the 19th century, with calls of nationalism and pride in the local traditions and culture. In architecture it meant the emergence of the national style, called ‘Neo- Romanian’, reflecting the national identity in the field of building design. The emergence of national architecture is not ‘a process specific only to Romania, but something also ‘encountered in many East European countries dominated for centuries by empires. It started in 1886, with the first ‘Neo- Romanian’ style house, designed by the architect lon Mincu, (whose name is now given to Bucharest’s university of architecture), and it reached a peak of popularity in the decade after The Great War, on the back of the enthusiastic ‘wave at being among the victors of the war ‘The unifying of the territories inhabited by Romanian speakers also fed into changes in architectural developments. ‘Neo- Romanian’ js a style unique to this country, which expounds the national-romantic message seen also in literature and painting and other visual arts; of the nation being the defenders of Europe against the advance of the Ottoman Empire. That is why a ‘Neo-Romanian’ style house looks like a citadel, often having incorporated a tower within the overall massive structure. A ‘Neo-Romanian’ building is also full of ‘motifs expounding the local form of Orthodox Christianity, as opposed to the Islam of the Ottomans: things such as ‘elements grouped in three: windows, arcades, arches, as an echo of the Holy Trinity, or Greek cross motifs. The ‘Neo- Romanian’ also includes an ethnographic component, seen ‘especially in the elaborately carved wooden verandas, doorways or jardinieres, inspired from the countryside houses Of the peasantry which were considered the backbone of the nation Building in such an elaborate style is expensive, that is why the ‘Neo-Romanian’ reached a crisis point in the early 1930s, ‘when cheaper technologies and intemational styles prompted ‘a synthesis and outright competition with the international Art Deco style and interwar Modernist style. The style continued its decline until 1947 when the communist regime took over, replacing it with their collectivst, Stalinist, triumphalistic architectural vision. ‘A Neo-Romanian House ‘The Great Depression of 1929 - 1933, was marked by relative 55tranquility in the local architectural scene, which came lurking underneath and later taking over, namely the rise of roaring back to life once the economic climate improved and_ Fascism. The subsequent installation of a military dictatorship Romanian oll became the main export commodity of the and the pain of the Second World War led, in the end, to the country. The money from oil was put to good use in the Art onset of the communist Dark Ages. Deco and Modernist architecture, of which Bucharest is now considered a sort of local design “superpower” if can call it that way. Art Deco is a modem reinforced concrete technology design with abstract decorations, inspired especially from industrial design, such as ocean liners or factory elements, which emerged on the back of the massive industrialisation and mass production for the war effort. It had a global spread, marking the development of a new Internationalist mentality for the people of Bucharest and Romania, after the inward looking ‘Neo-Romanian’ period, Modernist House | tried thus to put order in Bucharest’ architecture landscape and sensed a keen interest from the students, and through questions peppered in along the speech, which showed that they were following me with a great deal of attention, (which was pleasing and encouraging)! That impression was, solidified after the end of the presentation when 1 had enquires from students of different years about styles of particular buildings in Bucharest, or about intentions to follow the architectural profession. for which | recommended, of course, the high quality British universities, The interwar Modernist style has many overlaps with the Art and the resources of the Royal Institution of British Deco style, but mostly in its lack of ornamentation. Its Architects. attractiveness being the play with volumes, like a cubist sculpture on a massive scale, The town can be proud of its “built heritage’ in this style, seen in apartment houses looking like an ocean liner, or grandiose buildings, such as Hotel Union, Lido or Ambassador: they are witnesses to the Prosperity and cultural sophistication of Bucharest in the 1930s. ‘Art Deco Ocean Liner style Ship Building Remarkable among all were the Modernist designs of architect Marcel lancu, an artist and a member of the famous ‘Cabaret Voltaire’ circle, which formed the basis for Surrealist art. Those effervescent years are also considered Bucharest’s, By Valentin Mandache golden period, although, as always, there is also a dark side Architectural Historian 56