IULIUS continues to invest at home, in Iași, and is organizing an international architecture competition with guests for the design of a new complex in the downtown area of the city. The contest is a promise undertaken by the Iași based company back in 2019, following the public consultations preceding the development of the same area. This is a national best practice approach to architectural-urban intervention, carried out in collaboration with a team of architecture, urban planning, history and heritage specialists. As part of this new project, IULIUS is launching the Iași for the Future (Iași Pentru Viitor) platform, which mirrors the city as it is today and the city of tomorrow. The local community is invited on this platform to express their own vision of how Iași should develop.
A promise kept by IULIUS Group
IULIUS Company wishes to provide Iași city with a landmark urban complex, by organizing an international architecture competition with guests. This is the first time such an endeavor is undertaken in the region for a new development, as a transparent process initiated by a private entity, a nationwide model of best practices for architectural-urbanistic intervention. The initiative proposes a type of process including public-private dialogue, a progress in the way investments are made, which also restores confidence in contemporary architecture.
In this competition, IULIUS invites prestigious architectural practices to propose a landmark complex for the developing Sf. Andrei–Palace Square area, combining valuable architectural references in downtown Iași with a contemporary architectural approach. The project is coordinated by a team of specialists, comprised of historian Cătălin Turliuc and architects Șerban Țigănaș, Augustin Ioan, Dragoș Ciolacu, Mihai Corneliu Drișcu and Matei Bogoescu.
“Any project should represent the period, the era, the time in which it was built, but some projects should look into the future. Architecture should be of today, focused on tomorrow. Iași has a historical center with certain existing values, but it is evidently not completed. The duty of people today is to better connect things together. The things are there, the space, the buildings are there, and it’s all about how they are used. Iași has this opportunity to allow, to demand that the historic center be continued, that it be completed and better integrated with its surroundings,” said Șerban Țigănaș, president of the jury for the international architecture competition.
The competition is currently in the preparatory phase, and consultations with decision-makers, opinion leaders and representatives of local civic society will take place in order to finalize the theme. Those who wish to submit their opinions and ideas to the team organizing the competition can write at iulius.dezvoltare@iuliusmall.com.
Iași for the future
On this occasion, IULIUS Company is launching Iași for the Future (Iași Pentru Viitor). This platform is structured in two sections, namely “Iași of today”, presenting some of the architectural symbols that can be admired in the city, and “Iași of tomorrow”, respectively, presenting the international architecture competition with guests for the design of a new complex. “Iași of today” reunites more than 30 buildings to illustrate the legacy of the architectural phases to date, buildings that speak to the identity of the city, preserving a symbolism of past urban life and showing a constant desire to highlight the architecture of the times. The buildings also illustrate the evolution and dynamism of the city, which is constantly changing, developing and adapting.
Concurrently, IULIUS launched an interactive online consultation on the community-wide perception of the development directions of the city. The survey can be completed at www.iasipentruviitor.roand invites residents to express their opinions on what they like and dislike about existing urban development and reconfiguration initiatives, to identify solutions and to map out strategic directions to make Iași a place where you want to live. The main conclusions are compiled on a platform with real-time updates and that is publicly accessible to all those involved in the consultation.
For more details about the competition and its evolution, go to www.iasipentruviitor.ro!