The Story Behind a Medieval Tower Restored to Replicate the Historical past of an Missed Neighborhood in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The Story Behind a Medieval Tower Restored to Replicate the Historical past of an Missed Neighborhood in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The skyline of Cluj-Napoca, a metropolis positioned within the Transylvania area of Romania, is outlined by a mosaic of historic and fashionable buildings, giving town a singular and various look. Among the many seen landmarks, the Firefighters’ Tower, or “Turnul Pompierilor” in Romanian, stands out for its combination of kinds, from Medieval stonework to Baroque detailing and modern interventions. Regardless of it being a comparatively small monument, with a floor ground space of slightly below 50 sq. meters, the tower holds layers of historical past narrating the evolution of its neighborhood and metropolis, from its beginnings throughout Medieval occasions till the current day. Left derelict lately, a brand new intervention by Vlad Sebastian Rusu B.I.A and Octav Silviu Olănescu B.I.A. goals to revive the tower’s place as a repository of native historical past and a horny house for residents and guests alike. This text explores the story behind the Firefighters’ Tower each narratively and visually, by means of the lens of Cosmin Dragomir.

The tower’s improvement is concurrent with that of its surrounding neighborhood. It was constructed within the late 15^th century as a part of the second fortification enclosure surrounding the newly expanded metropolis. The construction, beneath the governance of the weavers’ guild, marked one of many minor pedestrian-only entry factors within the metropolis. The encompassing space was referred to as “Szappanyváros”, or the cleaning soap maker’s metropolis, a comparatively underdeveloped district outlined by the manufacturing of lard-based soaps and different noxious crafts. As an impoverished neighborhood, the tower represents the one monument within the space inherited from Medieval occasions.

Historic data present that, by the 12 months 1585, the tower was additionally used for hearth monitoring, alongside its position within the metropolis’s protection system. For the subsequent 430 years, the construction served as a hearth watchtower, a perform that repeatedly saved it from demolition. Large fires, such because the 1655 and 1697 ones, had been alerted from this tower, as guards had been completely stationed there. In 1789, town skilled one of the vital devastating fires of the century, destroying giant quantities of the Medieval cloth and resulting in large-scale city renewal initiatives.

As town started to modernize, the necessity for defensive fortifications decreased. Throughout the early 1870s, town started dismantling its enclosure partitions and bastions. The town council thought-about demolishing the tower however determined towards it, because the construction might function the command publish for the newly established voluntary firefighters’ group. This selection to determine a hearth watchtower aligns with a bigger development current in European cities of the nineteenth century. Only a few years later, in 1876, one other hearth engulfed the very construction meant to guard towards it, inflicting extreme harm. In response, the tower was restored, and two extra flooring had been added, full with an open deck on high and a bell alert system. The brand new addition, nonetheless seen immediately, presents modest Baroque detailing that creates a particular picture in comparison with the Medieval construction.

The Firefighters’ Tower was acknowledged as a Nationwide Historic Landmark in 1957. Following this classification, restoration works started with the goal of reworking the construction right into a museum devoted to firefighters. A monumental bolstered concrete stair was added within the Nineteen Sixties, filling the inside house of the tower. By immediately’s requirements of heritage restoration, that is an aggressive and difficult-to-reverse intervention. On a extra optimistic be aware, different works targeted on restoring the unique Medieval parts of the constructing. In 1985 a glass pyramid designed by architect Gheorghe Vais was added, changing the open deck and fire-alarm system. The pyramid was created to accommodate an astronomical observatory, however each this and the museum failed to draw guests, resulting in the tower closing its doorways in 2001.

In an effort to revitalize the tower and introduce it into town’s vacationer circuit, the Cluj-Napoca Metropolis Corridor organized a global competitors in 2017, in partnership with the Romanian Order of Architects. Regardless of it being an unusual observe within the space on the time, the competitors proved to be a hit, with 25 tasks submitted from Romania and overseas. For the native administration, this led to extra openness to architectural competitions as an official process for making certain the standard of public investments, whether or not in buildings or public areas. The profitable proposal was submitted by the joint workplaces of Vlad Sebastian Rusu and Octav Silviu Olănescu, with a staff consisting of architects Vlad Sebastian Rusu, Andra Vlădoiu, Anda Gheorghe, Octav Silviu Olănescu, Anamaria Olănescu, and Petrică Maier Drăgan, alongside consultants from related fields.

The design answer transforms the tower into an city observatory, thus persevering with its longstanding custom of watching over town. The intervention is known because the “third age of the tower,” aiming to re-activate it and spotlight its constantly evolving position within the lifetime of the group. In March 2023, after six years of rehabilitation and development work, the tower welcomed its first guests of the previous many years. The intensive rehabilitation changed the intrusive concrete parts of the Nineteen Sixties, Nineteen Seventies, and Eighties with delicate and reversible interventions in step with modern rules of heritage restoration.

In addition to the cautious restoration of the Medieval and Baroque partitions, the design proposal introduces a translucent core indifferent from the unique construction. This facilitates the accessibility of the landmark, as a newly-introduced elevator reaches all flooring apart from the topmost remark deck. The steps wrapped round it reveal the progressive historical past of the tower by means of rigorously deliberate resting areas that spotlight varied architectural options, together with spatial dioramas and augmented actuality installations. As most of those new parts are rendered in a metallic end, the materiality of the intervention additional underlines the distinctive identification of the “third age of the tower.”

The remark deck represents one of the vital enticing options of the rehabilitated monument. Right here, a scale mannequin of town permits guests to distinction and evaluate the 360 levels panorama with a scale mannequin depicting a model of town set in stone. A mirrored ceiling additional multiplies the layers of notion. Moreover, a bit of the unique 15^th-century fortification wall connected to the tower was additionally restored, and the wall stroll was made accessible by reopening one of many entry factors of the tower. The landmark is deliberate to develop into a gathering house for the area people and guests alike because the venue of small-scale cultural and creative occasions and installations.

Whereas a minor monument by some requirements, the continued story of the Firefight’s Tower incorporates a mess of narratives intertwined with the bigger improvement of town. Not too long ago opened to the general public, the placement attracted near 2000 guests in its first days, locals and vacationers keen to find its story. The construction represents greater than the overlapping historic kinds it portrays; it gives a renewed probability for the area people to develop into reacquainted with its personal historical past and to higher perceive and admire the struggles, achievements, and cultural traditions of those that got here earlier than them.

This characteristic is a part of an ArchDaily sequence titled AD Narratives, the place we share the story behind a particular mission, diving into its particularities. Each month, we discover new constructions from all over the world, highlighting their story and the way they got here to be. We additionally discuss to the architect, builders, and group, searching for to underline their private experiences. As all the time, at ArchDaily, we extremely admire the enter of our readers. When you assume we must always characteristic a sure mission, please submit your ideas.