Dear Architect,

Almost one year ago, on October 30th, 2015, a terrible tragedy happened in Bucharest, Romania. It was Friday evening and in the Club "Colectiv" gathered around 400 people, most of them young... and a good number of architects and students of architecture.

There was a fire and in the tragedy 64 people lost their lives, and many were severely hurt. Six teaching architects from UAUIM (the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu") died, one of them being a member of the group Good Bye to Gravity that performed the song "The Day We Die." Of all the members of the group only the vocalist survived.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colectiv_nightclub_fire

 

We cannot forget this tragedy. Another proof how fragile, indeed, is the human existence.

In cooperation with The Romanian Union of Architects we are launching now a competition to search for ideas for A HOUSE OF GRIEF, a memorial dedicated to those who perished and a reminder, for all of us, how precious our life is.

We plan to show the best works received within the Architecture Biennale of Bucharest this year, at the end of October.

The deadline to receive your proposals is the 23rd of October.

We propose three possible sites, but you are not restricted to them. You could also propose A HOUSE OF GRIEF in abstractum, that is, without a specific location.

Please register to this address (info@icarch.us) to receive a registration number with which to anonimously identify your works. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HOUSE OF GRIEF

 

 

How to translate grief…?

It is an indelible pain… the pain of losing someone dear.

We grieve… since we cannot do anything else.

We suffer.

Words are weak, when pain is at its highest.

We do not work with words, but with bricks.

We ask you to imagine The House of Grief.

How would it be…?

Would it be a “convenient” house…?

Would it have to respect all the rules and regulations…?

Would we design it with Neufert on our desk…?

How would it be…?

What would Neufert have to say about grief…?

And could indeed grief be externalized through architecture…?

Why not…?

Why shouldn’t architecture be able to evoke feelings that are not of a measurable nature…? But are feelings ever otherwise…?

Six people from The University of Architecture and Urbanism died. And others were severely hurt.

We ask you to design THE HOUSE OF PAIN.

THE HOUSE OF GRIEF.

In memoriam.

Like an Architectural Requiem.

To pay homage to those who are not, any longer, our colleagues, who, at the mercy of a malevolent Fate, vanished beyond the threshold.

What threshold…? The threshold that separates Life and Death, the threshold between the "here and now" and "there and then…"

Design, as an architectural eulogy, THE HOUSE OF PAIN, THE HOUSE OF GRIEVANCE, THE HOUSE OF DANCE, FIRE AND DEATH, if we are to be more explicit.

Design in order to alleviate the pain.

And to pay homage.

Lament, dear architect, through your building.

The Taj Mahal was built in memory of an emperors’ beloved wife. We are not emperors, nor are we so emphatically concerned with permanence. But we still can, reflecting on death, imagine a building that would eulogize the colleagues who are not, any longer, between us…

We expect ANY work, ANY size and ANY format that responds to the theme.

Thank you.

 

ICARCH

 

We suggest three possible sites... you can see aerial views below. But you are not limited to them. You have the freedom to choose any site you like, or any configuration you like.

 

 

A - the large plot of land, free of constructions, vis-a-vis the building that houses the club where the tragedy happened (marked "Colectiv").

 

B - the piece of land surrounded by cars, in the square in front of the building.

 

C - and perhaps even the river Dambovita where you could propose, perhaps, a commemorative island.