ReCreate blog post series on mapping in WP1

Post 3

Author: Filip-Lucian Neagu, researcher, Tampere University

To gain a broader perspective on the possibilities of reuse and ease knowledge and technology transfer across borders, one of the goals in the ReCreate project is to gather data on precast systems from various European countries. The work is not limited to the four pilot countries of the project (Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany), but also includes a selection of eastern EU member states known to have large stocks of precast concrete buildings. Beside residential building systems, the ones used in non-residential construction are of interest as well. This blog post series describes that experience. Please find here Part 1 of the series, which explains the nature of this work and describes the Polish experience, and here Part 2, which discusses the Estonian experience. The current blog will depict the Romanian experience, and the series will continue one more post on Finland.

The Romanian experience

Graduate of master’s in architecture Filip Neagu joined the ReCreate research team at Tampere University as a research assistant for a ten-week sprint in the autumn of 2024, with guidance provided by project researcher Niko Kotkavuo, to collect material on the precast building systems of Romania. This blog gives the personal account of his involvement and the challenges he encountered while studying the systems:

Similarly to other former Soviet dominated nations in Eastern Europe, the ‘large panels’ (ro. ‘panouri mari’) apartment buildings in Romania have been wearing a heavy cloak sown with the dark thread of a traumatic past communist regime.

However, several contextual differences ensured an especially unique path for the prefabricated panels’ development within the Romanian bubble. On one hand, their sudden appearance was backed by an unforgiving totalitarian urbanism that had previously wiped up entire settlements to force new space for the ‘large panels’ residential neighborhoods, as well as other representative megalomaniac structures. On the other hand, the high seismic activity in the south-eastern area of the country has imposed, at a structural level, certain reinforcement and binding particularities exclusive to the Romanian ‘large panels’ model. The latter aspect would turn up being shook by the devastating 1977 earthquake that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, an event that hurried the introduction of even stricter building limitations and regulations.

The national revolution in 1989 against the communist party and the execution of its leader Nicolae Ceaușescu marked a clear ending to the dictatorial chapter and everything it entailed. Eventually, this liberation would also induce a massive drop of any interest in communist-related matters. Unfortunately, this phenomenon highly affected any regard in the handling and caring for the archives of the former institutions, including design institutions like e.g. The Design Institute for Standardized Buildings (IPCT) or The Project-Bucharest Institute (IPB). As a result, tracking the traces left by the archives proved as difficult as expected.

For example, for the last few years, a private operator for archival services in the city of Braila has been meaning to sell the former archives of IPB to Bucharest’s City Hall (PMB), a resource of valuable knowledge that should have normally been sought and reprised long ago by the municipal institution. An equally good source of materials from the IPCT era proved to be the university libraries at UAUIM in Bucharest, as well as UTCN in Cluj-Napoca. Dr. arch. Maria Alexandra Sas, a fellow Romanian researcher, has kindly offered to help with consulting some materials found at the library in Cluj-Napoca.

Some catalogs and dossiers, as well as instructive guides for assembling ‘large panel’ buildings published under the tutelage of the standardized buildings design institutions, have been successfully preserved in the university libraries. Even though the materials found at the libraries were in generally good condition, the IPB archives did not experience the same fate. Before recently settling in Braila, they have been dragged around during the last 34 years, some even developing mold overtime or disintegrating into solitary pages.

‘Large panels’ buildings might presently be one of the most valuable and widespread construction resources in Romania. While researching, I found mine and many of my close friend’s childhood homes’ floor plans, listed as sections or series of IPCT type projects. Since such a large portion of the built environment was constructed in a vigorously short period, more than half a century ago, a new era for intervention is right around the corner. Without a plan B of renovating or reusing this resource, or several back-up plans, millions of people could face a sudden housing crisis. The ‘large panels’ construction had almost unintentionally foretold a future in which reuse can be a sustainable option for architectural longevity.