ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN: The crisis has halved the sector value

The Order of Architects from Romania (OAR) and the Union of Architects from Romania (UAR) organized the professional conference "Architecture and money". The event has provided an opportunity for experts in the field to speak openly about the various issues faced by the guild. According to the ideas expressed by architects, given the context of global economy evolution, the construction market and, together with it, the segment of design services, have transformed substantially. "Between 2008 and 2012, in Romania, both areas have contracted with 50% from the initial value. The potential or actual amount of the architectural services market depends on the one hand on what the investor and customer believe and, on the other hand, on what the public authorities think it is worth to be invested in architecture. The extent to which we allow architecture to generate added value depends on the place that we give to it on the scale of common values and also on the result sought: the increase of the profit and employee productivity, the decrease of costs on the long term, the protection of the environment and the capitalization of the natural and built heritage", said the OAR representatives. Architect Şerban Ţigănaş, the president of OAR, presented a statistic referring to the proportion of specialists that local government organizations have in Europe. According to the data, Denmark is the country with the highest percentage from this point of view, 21% of the Danish architects being employed in municipal institutions. If the European average stands at approximately 10%, Romania is among the countries which register a deficit here, with less than 1% of local architects operating in public administrations. Arch. Şerban Ţigănaş believes that this situation actually represents one of the main problems of the built environment from Romania. In his opinion, a construction project needs at least two architects, one which has to represent the investor and the other one that has to act as a representative of the public interest. "The latter is practically the architect of everyone and represents the public point of view", argued the OAR president. According to the expert, "the architect of everyone", which is indispensable for any project, is replaced in Romania by people who have other professions. For further information and a detailed analysis of the current Agenda Constructiilor issue, click here!