Chapter 1: Roots / 1960'
Viila Cheia is, first and foremost, a true life story about values and paying them forward from one generation to another. Iosif spent most of his childhood in the orchard hosting the guesthouse, which he later inherited from his father, Iozef Vincze who was a painter and stone mason. Coincidentally he painted the house of Paul's grandparents, Simion and Susana Moldovan, sometime in the late 60s, event that sparked a funny story. Susana, a down-to-earth, entirely respectable lady, had never ridden a two-wheeled vehicle until Jozef took her on a motorcycle ride. The purpose was to show some of the work he had done and thus gain her trust as a client.
Chapter 2: Fondations / 2014
In 2014 Iosif and his wife Laura opened up to us about their desire to return to Iosif's childhood orchard. They wanted to build something on their inheritance, which could at its turn, be passed on to the next generations. A gust house... not too big and yet not too small, with a pantry for storing fruits, compotes, jams, vegetables and pickles, but especially wine... Because, just like their fore-bearers before them, they wanted to store food for winter as well as share it with others. The breathtaking view on Aries valley from the highest point on the northwest ridge of the 1ha orchard hosting Viila Cheia factors the shape of the 6 rooms guesthouse. The later takes, on the one hand, a bar shape plan that acts like a barrier destined to delay one’s encounter with the view, and on the other, a forced perspective cross section shape destined to amplify the impact of ones encounter with the said view upon entering the building. The living room separates and guides the three components of the program: guest bedrooms, the hosts' quarters and the mixed-use basement. The basement better anchors the volume onsite, being tucked in a pit from which gypsum and alabaster used to be exploited. Each of the five guests' bedrooms is south-east oriented and extends itself onto the orchard through a patio outfitted with a cosy nook. Cheia village's lack of identitary architectural repertoire forces the project to source its inspiration in the realm of archaic Romanian rural architecture. A contemporary volume dressed in traditional clothing; stone for the basement, wood and plaster for the ground floor and shingles for the roof. We wanted the house to incorporate values beyond those of traditional archaic architecture, to offer places where one can snuggle with a good book, enjoy a glass of wine, where you can listen to the 'birds and winds', where the fire is light in the evenings and where food 'tastes like rainbows' (@alina_filipoiu, 2021)
Chapter 3: Despair / 2015, 2016, 2017
The project went on to be twice declared eligible for EU funding, bun unfundable. Hope faded with each of the negative answers received from the Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR). 2017 marks ateliercetrei's participation in an architectural competition that offered us the chance to focus on the values of the 'people of the earth' (Iorga, 1936), translating the character of Romanian villagers and is featured in a series of novels reflecting upon the wisdom of these peoples and their sense of proportions. This condition can be easily traced back to the essence of our culture, from the making of some of the most common objects to the shapes, sizes and choice of materials summing up the built environment. Our focus was to identify a method, much like we empirically did in 2014, that would allow us to create an almost instantaneous - Proustian like - type of connection to ones past through an architecture that has, apparently, no formal connection with that past and yet, manages to evoke it.
Chapter 4: hope / 2018
2018 marked the end of our wait as Iosif and Laura decided to start the project with personal funding. We used the opportunity to refine and apply the method we used in 2017. The term ekphrasis refers today to literary description of a work (Vrânceanu, 2015). Originally, however, it meant a 'detailed description' of any place, thing, person or experience. We were curious of what the outcome would be if, appealing to our own memories or literary descriptions of classic Romanian authors such as Ion Creanga, Liviu Rebreanu or Ioan Slavici, we would construct a contemporary reality that would trigger that Proustian-type connections to ones roots, even if its visual representation would be neither traditional, nor archaic. We maneuvered the project with this method from outside within, from architecture to objects, either catalogue or custom ones. Starting from the distribution of exterior finishings and claddings, to how rainwater is collected and drained, the shape of the patios - inspired by traditional porches - designed to link each room the orchard and to 'the heat of the village' (Rebreanu, 1920) all the way to the position of the triptych right above the headboard of each bed evoking the presence of faith, the three-legged tea/coffee tables, the lounge chairs and luminaires with stretched and braided cables and last, but not list, the hearth and 4m long table designed as social catalysts, construct the concept of the guesthouse... offering an almost archaic Romanian traditional rural experience in a contemporary note to tourists from around the world.
Chapter 5: re-Roots
Our grandparents and great-grandparents built their homes with their own hands, engaging the whole extended family. Following the example of their fore-bearers Iosif and Laura were completely involved in all onsite activities: tracing, laying the foundations and brick-walls, finishing the walls and floors or building the hearth. Amongst other Iosif was the head stonemason onsite while Laura brought us back on track whenever the situation required us to change architectural solutions. Our children, Toma and Olivia, accompanied us onsite and helped finish the hearth and were present when the Viila Cheia's lights were lit for the first time. 2020 came out of the shadow-cone the moment the pool was filled with water... Construction site visits became even more pleasant when as we got to gradually know Iosif's host talent... much to everyone's surprise he is also the cook of the guesthouse. And because this story is first and foremost, a story about life, its cyclicity and values and paying them forward from one generation to another, we asked for a little more patience and trust from our friends, in order to also design the guesthouse's logo. The stylized image of a round apricot tree is now embossed on coffee cups, embroidered on bathrobes and uniforms, becoming as much a part of this story as the hearth.
'And they lived happily ever after' should be the phrase that draws the curtain over this story that actually gets richer with the pages each visiting guest adds to it. It is interesting for us, as architects, to be a part of the way people experience their stay at Viila Cheia. It is one of the few projects where we have the chance to observe the post-occupancy mode not only of our clients, but through the nature and addressability of the program, of an ever increasing number of people. This process marks the parting with something we have worked on for more than seven years... but since a good master of the house never rests on his oars, Iosif and Laura are planning new places, places which we will help build, with our know-how as well as our hearts.
Design Team: Paul-Mihai Moldovan, Anamaria Moldovan, Adrian-Ioan Urda, Victor-Ioan Stefan, Adrian Ovidiu Bucin, Daniela Vieru, Diana Canta
Collaborator[s]: Top Proiect, Caloria
Design Year: 2014-2019
Status: Completed
Execution | Completion Year: 2020
Location: Cheia Village, Cluj, Romania
Gross area: 505 sqm
General Contractor: Practic Construct - Iosif Vincze
Text: ateliercetrei
Photographer[s]: Ovidiu Micsa / ADMO Studio