Ever since I have graduated from the “Architecture Institute Ion Mincu”, in Bucharest, back in 2002, I have been questioning my personal mission as an architect. Living in a post-communist regime, I have been skeptical about the short/medium term evolution of local society`s values, especially after 45 years of hiatus and disconnect from the global evolution in all creative fields.
Local people have somehow lost their connection to some sort of a common sense when it comes to basic notions that the architect has to take into consideration when practicing his craft. We have been going through very rough times, times when the newly obtained freedom made the public opinion believe that every form of personal manifestation was justified. We have seen kitsch take over the entire country for more than 2 decades. We have seen corruption ( from the highest authorities to the commissioned architects ) give birth to monstruos artefacts, the entire urban and rural landscape being populated with hideous landmarks that stand as witnesses of this whole painful transition into…hopefully a more civilized society.
I have found it extremely difficult to start working in such conditions, from the beginning. Of course I was at first dreaming of becoming a known creative, only to realize that entering the “system” was conditioned by a huge amount of compromise. I have worked in a few architectural offices, only to give up due to incompatibilities between my inner values and what seemed to be the only way to “make it” : ignoring or joining corruption and the systems of family connections, etc, on one hand, and dealing with uneducated or extravagant, both completely lacking common sense clients, on the other.
I have still managed to work on a few small to medium project though, all of them rare occasions when I could try my hand and vision on some real opportunities. Somesort of a humble attitude grew in me with time.I have understood that I could mainly design with scarcity in mind, keeping myself and my work minimalistic while trying to inovate with the most simple methods. I have more and more migrated towards an organic approach, finding it the only valuable response to the local state of things and affairs. For now.
You can see most of the projects from this endeavor on my Behance profile.
PAUL SELING 