Architecture essays

Buildings' diaries

Principal author

Gențiana Cristina Dumitrașcu

Profession

Arhitect

Project description

The staircase, which in Vintilă Mihăilescu's article is symbolically called „no man’s land”, for which the tenants do not want to take responsibility, to the administrator's revolt, being utilized only for the occasional use of groups of young people who meet to consume alcoholic beverages, draw graffiti on the walls, listen to music, in the case of our building the space is interpreted differently on almost every floor. Of course, we also had groups of young people, eager to take refuge from the cold weather, sharing a beer and trying out their artistic talent, not yet thoroughly exploited, on the white walls, freshly painted by the administration. But, almost every floor tells a different story. For example, the residents living on the first floor decided to barricade themselves behind metal grills, that separates their apartments from the rest of the staircase, a retired old lady, with a passion for cactuses, decided to share with the rest of the tenants part of her collection, placing carefully in the hall, 6 six cactuses of different shapes and forms (we also suspect her for the “beautifying” the elevator mirror using a picture frame with intricate decorations), a family on the 7th floor considers the staircase space as an extension of their apartment, always leaving with confidence, half of their pairs of shoes in front of the door. Of course, each entrance is accompanied by a door mat, thus creating an impressive collection, which can entertain to the observer with pieces from the former Persian carpets, considered so precious when purchased, chopped up and downgraded to the state of a door mat. The staircase space is also where small talks between neighbours take place, in which even we, intruders who pay rent, symbolically named by permanent tenants „the newcomers” get to be involved. There is always a retired lady, very vigilant, who seems to be aware of every move made by each tenant, the neighbour who is always too upset, convinced that you wanted to cause a flood just because you felt like it, late at night, the retiring neighbour who comes out every day to make small repairs to his car, or just to polish it, a multitude of cats and dogs that offer the opportunity to have a warm conversation in the lift, on a rainy Wednesday.

Text description of the author

Mrs. Gențiana Cristina DUMITRAȘCU graduated from The University of Architecture and Urban Planning “Ion Mincu” and has currently finished her doctoral thesis at the above mentioned university. With experience working as a teaching assistant for Design Studio classes at the Faculty of Architecture and Interior Design Faculty, University of Architecture and Urban Planning “Ion Mincu”, Bucharest, her research interests focus on the intersection between architecture and comics.

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