What our colleagues took away from Share Bucharest 2020
Share Bucharest 2020 is one of the most coveted architecture events in Romania. This year’s edition took place on the 15th of October in special pandemic adapted conditions, aka online. Even though it lacked face-to-face interaction, the event managed to reunite some extraordinary people in the field of architecture. Some of our colleagues even had the pleasure to attend Share Bucharest 2020, so we decided to share their experience with you.
As a student, you find yourself at the beginning of your professional career, eager to learn as much as possible about your field of study. When it comes to architecture, you have to continue to learn and adapt to various scenarios, trends, and technologies, and that was exactly the main discussion point of this year’s Share Bucharest event.
What is Share Bucharest?
In case you didn’t already know, Share Bucharest 2020 was one of the events organized by the Share Architects Forum, which in their own words “resides in the idea of connecting people through architecture, sharing concepts and initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe to bring architecture to a more social sensitive level.”
Share Bucharest is at its third edition and every year it reunites amazing speakers and visionaries from the industry. The event discussed the new architectural environment, innovative technologies, and the latest trends. It was an opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions and to network with top professionals. Some of the headliners of this year’s event were Sir Peter Cook, Johnny Chiu, Lina Ghotmeh, Marian Moiceanu, and Alexandru Găvozdea.
Some words from this year’s headliners
The morning of the event took off with the Chairman of the Romanian Order of Architects (OAR), Alexandru Găvozdea, and Marian Moiceanu, Rector of ”Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism (UAUIM). They discussed how the industry was continuously changing and how we shouldn’t be afraid of the unknown. We should acknowledge the possibility of making mistakes and a long-term thinking can be the solution for minimizing risks and mistakes.
Next in the panel was Lina Ghotmeh, founder of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture in France. From her point of view, as an architect, you need to take into consideration many factors. Therefore, when she is working on a new project she transforms it into a search adventure. In her own words, “architecture is about digging and finding the best way to bring your project to life, regarding the environment, people and what is happening in the world”. She also discussed the ideas behind some of her most recent projects, including the tower in Beirut called “Stone Garden” where she mixed the design and concept with nature.
Johnny Chiu followed Lina in the panel. The founder of JC Architecture — Taiwan shared with the public some of his new projects, including “Happier Café”. The project included Taiwan’s typical paper rolls as decoration. Clients of Happier Café have the opportunity to draw on paper what happiness means to them. An important takeaway from him is that as an architect it is important to tell people who you are and how you differentiate yourself from others, how you can contribute to the well-being of the country and its people.
Last on the panel was Sir Peter Cook, the well-known English architect, lecturer, and writer on architectural subjects. He made a call to the audience to be more inventive and expressed his desire for challenges and the fact that by using Ingenuity we will be forced to be more creative and open-minded. “We will have to design more things with different combinations, and as I come back to the central theme, we need to use ingenuity. It’s forcing us to be ingenious. It’s forcing us to be inventive, not just those people who say, <<I have the standard formula for doing a house. That’ll work, that will work, that will work.>> No, you’ve got to think again, and I like that challenge”.
What we took from the event
For us, as students, taking part in an event of such amplitude teaches us that being an architect is more than just what we learn in university. Being an architect means to be up to date on all the changes in the world, in the environment, in the trends, and the technologies. A good architect can adapt to innovation and bring his own spin on things, show his personality and deliver a message through his work.
For our colleagues, the experience was enriching and a real eye-opener as young professionals in the industry. They were thrilled to be part of such an experience and to be able to get to know some of the most successful architects today. Participating in such events helps students see what’s behind the curtain and what stands behind some of the greatest constructions today. These experiences can prove pivotal in the development of a young professional and they should be encouraged.
If you want to see the full event you can check it out here. If you are interested to see who else was there, here’s the full agenda.
