Articles by Bianca Valentina Roșescu

The Museum of No Spectators has finally come to life, after having been postponed during the pandemic. The original idea for this different type of gallery space for displaying art has remained true to the way in which it was first conceived by co-lead artists John Marx and J Absinthia Vermut. The Museum of No Spectators emphasizes inclusivity while moving away from “art as an elitist sport”. It challenges the notion that museums are neutral spaces for exhibiting what artists do. Although many museums are actively seeking change, many are still perceived as being exclusive.  The standing these institutions have in the art world can make it difficult to get away from the notion of “museum grade art” as being above all other art, yet anyone who has been to Burning Man will know that exceptional and powerful work is being created outside the museum context, some of it work that has a profound resonance with society, redefining our perception of what constitutes art.

The project for the temporary pavilion commissioned by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation in Queen Victoria Gardens explores the condition of an architectural device as a powerful attractor and display of the creative and dynamic quality of the city of Melbourne, as previous editions have fully demonstrated. The structure we imagined was a shimmering device that qualified itself as an urban lighthouse that hosted and enlighten the cultural activities for the community planned for the 2021 summer season in Melbourne.

The project is located on Iki Island, a small remote island in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The program of ACB Living consists of a co-working space and its front desk, off-site training spaces for companies, remote work rooms, and a café. By scattering the program across the town, the users are invited to stroll around the area. This way, accidental encounters with the residents of the town can naturally occur and spontaneous conversations ensue. Instead of gathering the whole entity into one single building, the program is distributed across town with new construction and refurbished small-scale interventions. Such a scope is a better fit with the town’s scale, allowing the neighbors to feel more familiar with these new spaces.

Concept of Yogashala. ‘Yogashala’ is designed to facilitate the convening of yoga practitioners by offering a clear, fluid, free, and uninterrupted spatial container of around 78 feet span. As the practice of Hatha yoga employs minimum force in attaining a posture, thereby instilling a sense of lightness in the body, the architecture too uses spaced bamboo in a system that exemplifies its lightness, while still spanning significantly.

The site is a typical 30’ x 50’ peri-urban parcel of land located in the south of Bangalore, Electronic city.  Trapped on three sides by plots that eventually will have neighboring houses, only the front opens out to the road allowing for the provision of light & ventilation to the house. The idea was to ensure maximum availability of light and ventilation without negotiating the privacy of its inhabitants.

Spirit of Photharam Eager to explore and experiment with something ultramodern, I was inspired to examine the area thoughtfully. To find something symbolic about the place would certainly add charm and meaning to the architecture. After meticulously studying the area, I found an interesting characteristic that would tie in perfectly to illustrate an extraordinary nuance to the composition. Back in the day, the land was used for sword making, so I picked up on a fascinating idea. Because swords are made of steel, using steel to forge something significant and memorable would be interesting. Once I settled with the idea, I decided to incorporate the matter of time. Steel is a material that causes rust and will erode over time. I decided to utilize this material and integrate it with the design and layout which will fit flawlessly with this colossal tree set in the middle of the area.

House JT was designed for an American and Indonesian couple that has two daughters who spend part of their years in the United States. The house was designed to accommodate their favorite activities such as cooking in a spacious kitchen and entertaining friends around a large dining table while also enjoying the intimacy and privacy of their house. The house also serves as a blank canvas to display one of their daughter’s artistic productions and their personal collection of artworks. The house was located on a dead-end street in South Jakarta. In contrast with the intricate and busy roads of South Jakarta, the house was meant to be a simple and quiet structure that has its own warm yet strong character through its materials and composition.