Romanian Construction Taste

Romanian Construction

Last entry I commented on the way that Bavarian Germany had managed to successfully modernize without much changing the atmosphere of the towns and villages. In Romania, there is much modernization taking place; people are upgrading their apartments, building new homes, shopping centers and businesses. However, it is a particular taste and style of architecture quite apart from the former traditions of the country.

The method of choice in construction here is the cement mixer. I believe that Romania has more of those mini cement mixers per capita then anywhere on earth. Every construction site has pile of sand, a pile of gravels and a cement mixer in front. Every site also uses lots of lumber, but not for the building, but as scaffolding and cement forms.

The nice thing about cement is the adaptability to shapes and curves. And Romanians love to add curves to their new construction. Often times the building is asymmetrical with a curved side and a straight side. The main portion of a building is supported by cement rebar columns and then a lighter cinder brick is used as filler. It’s odd for me to watch the walls go up without regard to the use of a level, but because the cement supports are level, the wall filler need not be.

Romanians, as a rule, don’t trust banks. When they have excess cash, instead of putting in a bank for safe keeping, they’ll put it into construction of their new house or addition. Once the money runs out, the project sits idle until more cash comes in. It appears to me that much of the country is in the process of being overbuilt. People have too big a house for their needs, but what else are they to do – it’s their retirement savings.

One thing I highly appreciate is the thermal windows and doors that are used. The idea for these came from Germany and they really are more efficient than what I’m used to back in the United States. Many of the cement buildings are not well insulated, but the windows work great, opening both sideways and from the top.

But the particular aspect of modern Romanian construction is the love of bright pastel colors. I can only offer theories as to why, but ever since the revolution of 1989 and now, with an improving economy, there is every imaginable color used in construction. The picture included with this entry is from a friend, Lorna, who sent me the photo in a collection of her shots. I’m putting together a slide show from all us volunteers to show at the Close Of Service conference and I borrowed her picture of a house to illustrate the state of current taste in Romanian home construction. Her example is not curved, but it sure is bright.