Annual Arch Nomination | OAR 2015

Each year the Order of Architects of Romania celebrates and rewards the works of Romanian architects around the world. This year`s main theme concentrates on ways of “Building the community” and encompasses various events such as awards festivites, workshops, lectures and debates that take place over several months.
This year our proposal for the Bamiyan Cultural Centre Design Competition received a nomination for the Unbuilt Architecture section. As the jury pointed out, the project designed by architects Razvan Barsan and Alexandru Oprita contains a deep social message of peace and reconciliation as it strives to “build community around culture”
What we most appreciated about this year`s Annual of Architecture is the fact that the organizers made an effort to actually build a community. And this time it wasn`t just about bringing together the community of architects and professionals from related fields, but about starting a dialogue between designers and the people for whom they are designing.
The first step was to organize an open-air exhibition in a public square where everybody could admire the submissions and get to know the latest projects. Also, the series of public debates aims to encourage regular people to become more involved into the life of their cities.
These actions inspire us to believe that in the near future the relationship between designers and “outsiders” will become more intimate, resulting in an increased quality of our projects and our lifestyles.