the ARTery

Project idea

Set along Bucharest’s historic Calea Victoriei, ARTery unfolds as a spatial manifesto — a transformative corridor between the legacy of Știrbey Palace and the aspirations of contemporary art and culture. This project redefines the role of architecture as both vessel and mediator, bridging time, identity, and experience.

The intervention carefully embeds itself within the urban rhythm, negotiating the dialogue between built heritage and experimental form. Through a series of open and semi-enclosed courtyards, ARTery cultivates a sequence of collective thresholds — spaces for pause, for contemplation, for encounter. These voids are not just interstitial; they become catalysts for connection across functions and disciplines.

Circulation is elevated into choreography. Red mesh walkways weave around the central courtyard like arterial lines — immersive, permeable, and symbolic. Movement becomes ritual: a procession through space, light, and narrative. Visitors are invited not only to observe art, but to inhabit its making — to traverse a physical and emotional bridge from the past into a shared, unfolding present.

More than a cultural center, ARTery is a spatial essay — a living structure that honors memory while projecting forward, proposing a renewed typology for civic engagement, artistic education, and urban continuity in the 21st century.

Project description

In the restored Știrbey Palace, the ground floor hosts a café, while the first floor integrates a library and bookshop, forming a cohesive cultural lounge. The basement includes a photography zone, a camera obscura, and an open exhibition area naturally lit via the sunken courtyard. Access to this level is provided by a metal mesh walkway suspended above the void.

The sunken courtyard accommodates a summer theater and offers direct access to the new building at ground level, leading into a restaurant.

The ground floor of the new building houses the main foyer, a painting and sculpture exhibition hall, a sculpture garden, and a commercial projection room.

The first floor is dedicated to cinema halls, artistic studios, and workshops for students in film, painting, modeling, architecture, and graphic design.

The second floor includes workspaces, a study hub, and an extension of the library, opening onto walkable green terraces.

The third floor is reserved for the main reading area of the library, providing a quiet, elevated retreat for study and reflection.

Technical information

The new construction employs a unitized curtain wall system ( Schüco FWS 50, Reynaers CW 50) for the façades enclosing the main artistic hubs and commercial spaces. This ensures high thermal performance, acoustic insulation, and a seamless glass aesthetic.

To enhance façade dynamics, the design integrates 5 cm laser-cut and cold-bent steel fins, mounted on a secondary aluminum substructure. These vertical lamellae are parametrically arranged for optimized shading and visual rhythm, and anchored via concealed brackets directly to the mullions of the curtain wall.

Circulation is structured through suspended walkways, built with stainless steel mesh decking and supported by a steel cable system anchored into the primary reinforced concrete or steel frame. Tensioned connections and load transfer are calculated to minimize impact on the central courtyard while maintaining lateral stability.

The historic Știrbey Palace is preserved with its original load-bearing brick wall system, and restored under the Romanian norms for monument conservation (e.g. Normativ P118/99 and Ordinul 2797/2017), including masonry consolidation, grouting, and reversible interventions using compatible lime-based materials.

Documentation

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