Initiatives / Experiments / Visions

Trailer for Research and Activation

Principal author

Alexandru Axinte

Profession

Arhitect

Co-authors (team members)

Cristian Borcan, Matei David, Tudor Elian

Architecture office

studioBASAR

Project year

2016

Location

Echipament mobil

Budget

4.500 euro (inclusiv echipamentele tehnice şi mobilierul)

Build surface area

2 mp (închisă), 23 mp (deschisă)

Project description

Absorbing the lessons learned from previous mobile structures, the Trailer was conceived to support the alternative nascent forces within the production of the public space in Bucharest context. The Trailer was inaugurated in May 2016 as a mobile pavilion operated by students participating in an educational project called “City School”, financed through the Mobilizing Excellency Program, created by Porsche Romania and developed together with Bucharest Community Foundation. The Trailer is designed and produced as a robust and practical tool to be shared free of charge among different organizations. The Trailer is equipped to provide instant place making, aiming for the civic, cultural and pedagogical transformation of the public spaces. The Trailer aims to give public voice and to spatially empower organizations which are lacking tools to act in the public space. Towed by any car with a hook, the Trailer is easy to maneuver and can quickly adapt to the local geography of contested public spaces. The Trailer is composed of a light single ax trailer which carries a built in metal frame structure covered with wood boards, protected in parking position by a cover. The Trailer has a storage space and can unpack extra facilities, such as a shadow canopy and a folding stair as a display totem, folding seats and extra tables. The Trailer is fitted with an electrical generator, a projector with a projection screen, a sound system and spotlights. According to the supported event and the operators’ needs, the Trailer can transform itself into several workshop tables placed at different heights (for children and adults), a mini-bar, a cooking table, a DJ desk, several exhibition boards and blackboards, bookshelves, a small stage and even an outdoor cinema. The 37 events supported in almost 2 years correspond to a weekly usage in the warm seasons. The Trailer was intensively used by Bucharest Metropolitan Library (BMB) reaching out towards the community through “The Caravan of Stories” project. For 2 seasons in a row, BMB toured with a mobile library Bucharest’s big neighbourhoods and townships parks. Several civic groups also employed the Trailer to boost their public events, acquiring a public voice and constructing their civic agendas towards the citizens. A couple of cultural NGOs used the Trailer too, as a tool for reaching new audiences within their proximities, like in the big mass housing neighbourhoods, devoid of cultural infrastructure.

Text description of the author

studioBASAR is a Bucharest based architectural studio and a public space practice founded in 2006 by Alex Axinte and Cristi Borcan. Preoccupied with the dynamics of urban culture and the disappearing importance of public spaces, studioBASAR initiates and develops actions and projects part of public space. Ranging from temporary to permanent, these processes include practice based research, participatory action research, community activation, co-production and co-design, urban design, live education and civic pedagogy. studioBASAR’s projects range from art installations, urban research, educational formats, public space interventions and community projects, to competitions and different typologies of residential and public buildings. In 2017 studioBASAR was one of the honorees of SOCIAL DESIGN CIRCLE awarded by Curry Stone Design Foundation and in 2018 the receiver of ROMANIAN NATIONAL CULTURAL FUND - Cultural Activation in Public Spaces.

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