House for a Collection - Restauration of a Modernist Villa

Bucharest preserves a distinctive modernist heritage, though many of its buildings have suffered from decades of neglect under the communist regime and a slow regeneration process. Recovering this architectural identity remains one of the city’s essential missions. In 1932, architect Sady Herivan received approval for an Art Deco corner residence, yet the building, as shown in 1940 photographs, departed from the authorised plans. Acquired in 2016 by an art collector as a home and as the setting for his permanent collection, the restoration aimed to finally realise Herivan’s original vision.

The intervention restored key volumetric and façade elements omitted from the original design, recovering the project’s coherence and elegance. The most visible addition is the band window on the southern façade, which highlights the first-floor balcony’s volumetry and sits above a tall horizontal Art Deco–style socle. A second porthole was added on the eastern façade, and the corner facing the courtyard now features a window aligned with the upper opening—an element planned but never executed. Functionally, the project balances private life and semi-public use: the ground floor hosts an art gallery, studio, and office in the former garage; the first floor, which preserved the original built-in furniture, serves as a day area for work and meetings with artists and curators; the upper levels remain private. The attic became a luminous space with a light court, featuring an immersive sgraffito mural, and visually connects to the lower levels through a new opening toward the staircase.

The structural renovation aimed to preserve the original proportions while ensuring stability through light reinforcement systems using carbon fibre mesh and epoxy adhesives. Applied as thin composite layers, these strengthened slabs and beams without altering geometry, improving flexural strength and crack control while reducing environmental impact and requiring minimal maintenance. For structural reasons, the continuous band window couldn't be fully executed; instead, an intarsia solution of exposed, black-pigmented concrete basso-relief panels recreate the rhythm of the missing windows and mullions. The tall socle, reinterpreted from Herivan’s drawings, was rebuilt in exposed concrete with horizontal triangular bands, grounding the house and distinguishing between the “omitted original” and the “rediscovered project.” The attic, the most recent addition, was realised beneath the original roof using contemporary steel elements for both structure and windows, harmonising old and new.