Daniel Munteanu
- How would you introduce yourself to strangers?
A recent description goes like this: in the past year, Daniel Tudor Munteanu has obtained his postgraduate degree at “The Berlage” in Delft (Holland) and at the University of Genoa (Italy), he had works exhibited at the Urbanism\Architecture Bi-city Biennale fifth edition in Shenzhen (China) and has also been published in ‘Volume’ (The Netherlands), ‘Abitare’ (Italy) şi ‘San Rocco’ (Italy). Architect and urbanist, alumnus of The Technical University of Iaşi (Romania) and of TU Eindhoven (The Netherlands), he has estabished his own architectural practice in 2003, together with his wife and partner Ana. As of 0214, he is also editor of ‘OfHouses’ magazine (www.facebook.com/
OfHouses). He lives and works in Suceava (Romania).
- What made you choose architecture as a profession?
I chose architecture as a profession as a result of a ‘serious talk’ I had with my parents, back in 1994. It was a compromise, something halfway between the artistic career I wanted and the prospective profession my parents envisaged for me. I wasn’t convinced that this choice was the right one until my 2nd year of study, when an extremely good design tutor managed to reveal to me how complex architecture can be and how to perceive it as a cultural manifestation.
- How has architecture influenced you personal development?
For me, architecture is both a profession and a passion. I’m a willing prisoner of this field. our practice is a family business and until recently we were 4 architects from 3 different generations, all related. 90% of my friends are architects, just as 90% of my personal readings are on and about architecture. I think that says everything.
- How would you describe your alternative activity to people unfamiliar with it?
Lately I’ve been extremely active in the architectural theory and criticism fields, as I’ve been writing at a series of profile publications. As a result, I’ve come to be well acquainted with the international architectural reviews landscape – I’ve noticed that recent ones, with minor exceptions (San Rocco, OASE, Arch+), completely ignore their critical task, limiting themselves to repeating, over and over again, the same recent built works of contemporary starchitects. Thus, we decided to found our own review, the way we think one should be: no advertisements, no padding and with a very simple concept: one work per issue, but presented down to the last detail. We will only publish houses, completed at least 20 years ago. They will not only be ‘old’ houses, but also fairly unknown – ‘old forgotten houses’, hence the title of our magazine: OfHouses. Pointless to mention, the review will be in English and addressed to an international audience. To catch a glimpse, we invite you to have a look at our facebook page www.facebook.com/OfHouses where our daily posts showcase interesting house projects which you are very unlikely to have encountered recently – for example, today we published Kazuo Shinohara’s ‘Umbrella House’ (1959) and tomorrow we will post Will Bruder’s first work, of 1975. OfHouses will be launched in 2016 and will probably be available only on a subscription basis.
- How has the transition from architecture to your alternative activity occurred?
I’m not sure we can talk about alternative activities. For us designing, researching and disseminating information are one and the same thing- they cannot function independently.
- How do the two activities influence each other?To what degree are you present in each of the activities?
Like I said, I think it’s difficult to talk about independent activities. I believe we’re equally involved in both of them, with the almost complete sacrifice of our free time.
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