Vila Coresi, Bucharest, Romania

"In a city like Bucharest, traumatised by endless rows of standard Socialist collective housing, one would expect new collective housing buildings to be radically innovative, to mark a difference and a new beginning. Economic pressure, the lack of experience - both financial and professional - the entire confusion/leeway of a transitional society have brought us face to face with a different reality: most new collective housing buildings closely follow the (pre)established patterns, only altering the height, colour and, in some cases, the interior design (in interventions that are often dubious). The Măicăneşti ensemble follows a line of an inspired, modern dialogue with the context, appearing as a vertical, single-volume (re)interpretation of living in a home with a courtyard. The building's seven flats all differ and the volume itself is adapted both to the neighbouring structures - blind walls, streets, the back yard - and to the purpose of providing each inhabitant direct access to the outside. Therefore, all housing units contain spaces that communicate with the surrounding streets and courtyards on several levels, through large glazed surfaces." Igloo nr 110/2011 architect - ADNBA