Opportunities Regarding the Innovative Conservation of the Romanian Vernacular Urbanistic Heritage
Authors:   N.I.R.D. URBAN-INCERC, Timișoara Branch (Incerc Timișoara), Traian Lalescu St. 2, 300223 Timișoara, Romania, Baera Cornelia , Gruin Aurelian ,   N.I.R.D. URBAN-INCERC, Timișoara Branch (Incerc Timișoara), Traian Lalescu St. 2, 300223 Timișoara, Romania, Enache Felicia ,   N.I.R.D. URBAN-INCERC, Timișoara Branch (Incerc Timișoara), Traian Lalescu St. 2, 300223 Timișoara, Romania, Bolborea Bogdan ,   N.I.R.D. URBAN-INCERC, Timișoara Branch (Incerc Timișoara), Traian Lalescu St. 2, 300223 Timișoara, Romania, Chendes Remus Vasile ,   Politehnica University of Timisoara, Civil Engineering Faculty, Traian Lalescu St. 2/A, 300223 Timișoara, Romania, Ciobanu Adrian ,   N.I.R.D. URBAN-INCERC, Iași Branch (Incerc Iași), 6 Profesor Anton Șesan St, 700048 Iași, Romania, Varga Luiza ,   "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Doctoral School of Architecture (SDA), 3-5 Mihail Moxa St, 010961 Bucharest, Romania, Sandu Ion ,   Academy of Romanian Scientists AOSR, 54 Splaiul Independentei St., Sect 5, 050094 Bucharest, Romania;, Corbu Ofelia ,   Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Civil Engineering Faculty, C. Daicoviciu St. 15, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Published: September 2023

The main objective of the proposed research is to preserve the vernacular urban heritage of Romania by identifying realistic and innovative solutions for the conceptual and applied capitalization of the traditional technologies used in creating living spaces. This can be achieved by using modern methods, techniques, and tools (such as specific design methods and detailing, material mix design, specific material parameters, etc.) to redesign traditional Romanian housing entities, utilising existing construction materials and techniques predominantly of rural origin, empirically validated over the centuries, and reformatting them with modern scientific knowledge to generate a new model that is valid and compatible with current safety, aesthetic, and quality requirements. Earthen buildings, whether vernacular or constructed with qualified personnel such as craftsmen and traditional masons, use different techniques and construction technologies (rammed and poured, load-bearing walls, adobe bricks, mixed wood-earth structures, etc.) and were developed differently across the Romanian territory, depending on the climatic and relief zoning. By optimising these techniques and technologies, identifying their vulnerabilities and corresponding engineering solutions to counter them, and establishing pertinent fields of applicability in direct relation to their physical, mechanical, and durability characteristics and their evaluated bearing capacity, the conservation of the Romanian traditional housing legacy can be achieved. The opportunity of the proposed research is clearly connected to the current context of almost half of the Romanian population leaving for rural areas, including residential buildings made of earth. Supplementary, traditional building materials, like earth, clay, wood, etc., are based on primary natural resources, and they will generate ecologic housing concepts with a high degree of eco-efficiency in terms of use/re-use and recyclability, energy saving, and the health of the living space, in accordance with the general drive for resource savings and Circular Economy implementation in all fields, including the construction industry.