Rosia Montana Design Studio - a Dutch Approach - part II

Rosia Montană , Design Studio

a Dutch approach part II

Content Preface

Maike van Stiphout and Stefan Baliçi

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Civil Society in Action for Europe’s Heritage Joana Pinheiro

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Speaking Landscapes

After the Gold Rush

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Marieke Berkers

Jan Eiting

Re-Imagining Roșia Montană

Contemplating the Void

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Lourdes Barrios Ayala

Thom Knubben

Narrative of Roșia Montană

Post Mining Research Lab

Lynn Ewalts

Joost van der Schoot

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Branza Rosie

Injured Landscape

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Iruma Rodríguez Hernández

Jeroen Boon

Preface Montana Museum. A beautiful research lab on gold mining hovering over the deserted mine.

And more bolt land art elements in the size of mining interventions spread out over the landscape.

Some students invisioned the resurrection of the phoenix Rosia Montana: Take advantage of the ambiance of abandonment by celebrating emptiness, with contemplating paviljons.

Revitalise the village by improving the public space with a park around the creek.

Europa Nostra put Rosia Montana on the list of the most endangered landscapes of Europe.

This was a sign that Europe considers the preservation of the gold mining area of great importance. In 2016 the site is put on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage. What does it mean for the locals to become a touristic destination of world importance? Will they be better off with tourists in their midst then the mining company enrolling their plans?

This booklet contains the projects of seven students from the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture. They visited Rosia Montana and stayed with the locals. Some projects welcome the tourists in the narrative landscape, with interventions related to his past: Reuse the old mineshafts to offer a walk under the village.

Show the rescue of the landscape by UNESCO: A scar in the hills, a path at the altitude of the non made poluting lake, in sight of the Rosia

This is the second year that students studied on Rosia Montana. We hope the projects will inspire the residents of Rosia Montana, in designing their future within the UNESCO context. We thank Europa Nostra for the sponsoring of the publication. And ANA for the excursion to Rosia Montana.

Maike van Stiphout, Head of Master’s program of Landscape Architecture at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture Stefan Baliçi, Architecture.Restoration.Archeology (ANA)

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Civil Society in Action for Europe’s Heritage by: Joana Pinheiro, Europa Nostra Europa Nostra is the most representative heritage organisation in Europe with members from over 40 countries. Our pan-European federation of heritage NGO’s is supported by a wide network of public bodies, private companies and individuals. Since 1963, we have celebrated, protected and lobbied for Europe’s heritage.

all over Europe. Exceptionally, we also named the Venice Lagoon as THE Most Endangered site in Europe. Our experts have visited most of the selected sites, prepared reports, and gave advice and support to the national organisations fighting to save those sites.

Among the first success stories of our 7 Most Endangered programme is the ancient mining landscape of Rosia Montana in Romania, which was classified as a Historic Monument at the end of 2015 and nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status by the Romanian Government at the beginning of 2017, thus blocking the large-scale gold mining project which had been promoted by a multinational company for over a decade.

Awards In partnership with the European Commission, Europa Nostra runs Europe’s top heritage awards scheme. The EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards celebrates best practices in conservation, research, dedicated service, and education, training and awareness-raising. Since its launch in 2002, over 450 exemplary heritage accomplishments from 34 countries have been recognised.

In 2018, a new list of the 7 Most Endangered will be published in March and a conference will be held in the autumn to mark the 5th anniversary of the programme.

In the 2018 Special Edition of the Awards, prime focus will be given to the European dimension of the projects. The announcement of the 2018 winners will be made in April and a high-profile Awards Ceremony will be held in June in Berlin.

Policy Europa Nostra contributes to the development of European strategies and policies related to heritage, through a structured dialogue with European institutions and the coordination of the European Heritage Alliance 3.3.

Campaigns Europa Nostra campaigns to save Europe’s most threatened monuments, sites and landscapes, in particular through the 7 Most Endangered programme, developed in collaboration with the European Investment Bank Institute.

Most recently, we have lobbied at the highest level of EU policy- and decision-making for stronger recognition of heritage as a positive and cohesive force for Europe. Europa Nostra therefore welcomed the Rome Declaration, which confirms the EU’s commitment to “a

Since the launch of the programme in 2013, we have listed 21 threatened heritage landmarks 6

participation of top-level EU representatives and Europa Nostra’s President Maestro Plácido Domingo.

Union that protects our cultural heritage and promotes cultural diversity”, adopted by the leaders of 27 Member States and EU institutions on 25 March 2017.

Third parties and organisations will stage cultural heritage-related side events on the previous days. Hence, the Summit will provide a unique platform for exchanges among heritage players, a wider circle of stakeholders and the general public.

European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 Europa Nostra is an official partner and has been closely involved in the preparations for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 – at EU level but also by mobilising our members and partners to actively contribute to this momentous initiative.

Find out more and Join us: www.europanostra.org

We are committed to ensuring that both the “European dimension” and the “citizens’ dimension” are put at the heart of heritage activities undertaken across Europe in 2018 and beyond.

Europa Nostra is organising special editions of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards and the 7 Most Endangered programme as well as a series of events and activities throughout Europe in the framework of the Year.

Under the motto “Sharing Heritage - Sharing Values”, we will transform our annual congress into a true European Cultural Heritage Summit, which will be held from 18-24 June in Berlin.

Europa Nostra, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) and the German Cultural Heritage Committee (DNK) will co-host the Summit and organise the core events from 20-22 June. Among the programme’s highlights is the European Heritage Awards Ceremony with the

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Speaking Landscapes by: Marieke Berkers – Architectural Historian | tutor of O5 Studio Roșia Montană

This article may be the ‘loudest’ part of this publication. Because it is about words. Words say something aloud. Even when they are put down and read in silence. Although designers like to work with silent stuff, like brick, earth, wood or concrete, words are essential building matter for them too. Making design decisions is a conversation that starts with playing with words in the head. Words simply pop up when making up your mind.

the late 1970’s by 28 years old architect Anca Petrescu. How to put in words the narrative of this outstanding building? Better ‘read’ the architecture by walking for hours through the long corridors and rooms, designed in a monstrous mishmash of styles, executed in posh marbles. Our architectural excursion taught us that also buildings can be(come) embodiments of a story.

The students of the 2016 edition of the O5 Studio Roșia Montană were noticeable interested in stories. Either stories in words or embodied in buildings or landscapes formed their starting points for research and design.

Visiting the mining village of Roșia Montană might have made us realise how rich in stories this place is and how poor these stories often are embodied in the living environment. Take for example the elusive scale of the mining area: 1346 hectares. Walking long distances through the hilly sites that mark the mining area made the scale graspable, but not yet visible.

It made student Lynn Ewalts think about ways to make this story visible again. When Iruma Rodríguez Hernández stood upon the enormous underground system of mining shafts she started to imagine. A map showed the scale of the system and then a story emerged. Why not use these kilometres of empty space as a mega storage for…? O5 gave Iruma the opportunity to give content to this potentially rich idea. The problem of vacancy became tangible by seeing a huge amount of Roșia Montană abandoned buildings. But visiting these abandoned places made Lourdes Barrios Ayala think about the people. In a shrinking community it is important

The O5 course is all about language and articulation. Students are asked to use words to define a research question related to their P5 design project. Answering this question requires a research and results in a paper of about 2.500 words. The art of O5 is to find, read, (re)think and write words that coincide with what the students would like to ask and tell. Finding the right words is quite a journey. The time this journey takes, allows students to slow down and understand their design related research in an utmost critical way.

Etymologists believe the word story (level) and story (history) have the same original. The Latin word instaurare – to build – forms the base for both meanings. It is true: stories and building both are build. And buildings can be read as stories, like stories can be read as buildings.

You might agree that sometimes buildings tell a story in a better way than words can do. Visiting Romania as part of the O5/P5 course made that clear to us. Proof of the pudding was the visit of the 300.000 m2 large Romanian house of parliaments in Bucharest, commissioned by dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and designed in

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it therefore is necessary to consider ecological and socio-economic aspects. There’s no need to redevelop the vacant sites immediately; next steps can be made when land or budget becomes available. Vacancy brings flexibility to the space. For Lourdes the people form the heart of the project. She therefore sees opportunities for Roșia Montană in developing a heritage-based tourism that reuses vacancy and embraces community participation. A development can only be successful with the input of the local community and this success will be largely enjoyed by themselves. Therefore, it should also build further on the local heritage as that is what a place makes special. Looking for unique characteristics and values of Roșia Montană helps to make the integrated approach work and the unique mining village recognisable and strong again and therefore open for the world to enjoy it.

to carefully collect unique stories before they disappear. Unique stories can offer opportunities to makes places unique and therefore worthwhile to visit as well. Lourdes integrated this ideas as a key element in het transformation strategy.

In the next paragraphs I will present summaries of all O5 paper researches of studio Roșia Montană. The presentation will end with some concluding notes about the diversity and/or similarities of the projects.

Jeroen Boon (landscape architecture) Injured landscape Imagine landscape architects to be doctors, having to deal with scars in landscapes that are ‘injured’ by war, production methods or natural processes? Jeroen Boon shows three ways landscape architects are dealing with injures. Repairing landscape in its old state, suture injuries as smooth as possible in their landscape environment, or adopting a scar and return it into a new landscape. With the first two methods landscape architects aim to make the scars invisible. But Boon’s message in his paper is that we should recognise the scar instead of denying it. Searching for potential use of the holes in the ground in mining areas like

Lourdes Barrios Ayala (landscape architecture) Rosia Montana belongs to the world Lourdes Barrios Ayala asked herself which elements are needed to make an urban transformation of an area characterised by vacancy successful. She used her research to find the right ‘ingredients’ of a promising strategy. Highly engaged with what happens in Roșia Montană Lourdes realised that when mining stops it not only leaves emptiness in the landscape, but also in the humans. In order to elaborate a sustainable plan for Roșia Montană

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Roșia Montană can lead to a more successful transformation of the landscape. The scars can help enlarging the economic and/or ecological meaning of the mining area. For example by reusing the holes created by mining as elements in ecological systems or use them as a waterbuffer zone. Boon pleas for an early involvement of landscape architects in mining projects. It is recommended to think before and/or during mining about economic possibilities for the pastmining landscape.

He states that the landscape architect when fixing narratives needs some specific tools for design. Could there be a formula that always works?

Eiting uses the publication Landscape Narratives: Design Practices for Telling Stories

by Matthew Potteiger and Jamie Purinton to study five essential practical design tools to use to add to or stress landscape narratives: naming, sequencing, revealing and concealing, gathering and opening.(1) Also, he studies how to represent narratives from different time periods in landscapes and adopts from Potteiger and Purinton three ways to do so: A single point of view, the linear narrative and Continuous narrative. Next, he studies work of three offices for landscape architecture - Deltawork 1:1 by RAAAF, Abbey Lorsch by Topotek1 and Cap de Creus by EMF Landscape - to reflect upon with his analysis in mind. Which strategy works and why? His conclusion is that there’s no ‘awardwinning’ formula to deal with narratives in landscape design. Making a choice for a strategy is context-dependent.

Jan Eiting (landscape architecture) Landscape narratives and design For Jan Eiting landscapes are embodied with narratives. But how can you adopt these narratives as a landscape architect? Eiting sees a role for the landscape architect to increase the experience of the narrative deleted or vanished.

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Lynn Ewalts (architecture) Showing without telling. Narratives in landscape.

Lynn Ewalts sees landscapes like books: both can be read. Landscape narratives are not always immediately clear, but as a designer you can help making narratives more visible. Ewalts does not start her research by focusing on tools like Jan does, but she takes the story to be told as staring point. She starts her paper by telling

a part of an Icelandic landscape indoors and by doing so is framing it. Experiencing landscape here becomes an exposed, cultural act. In the project Seljord & The Legends of Rintala Eggertsson Architects the landscape itself is turned into a museum by putting a stage in it.

Because the spectator has to walk the stage he can experience different layers of the landscape and at the same time the overarching idea of the stage relates the different layers into one story. Lynn returns to Roșia Montană by stating the method of Landscape as a stage is the best one to use here, as the mining village has many layers of history spread in the landscape.

Walking the line of a lake that would emerge when mining would continue makes the mining story of Roșia Montană readable.

Thom Knubben (architecture) Voids in disposition. Places/spaces in search of an identity.

Thom Knubben focuses on the voids in the urban landscape of Roșia Montană. He believes those sites are missing identity and therefore are seen as leftovers, often unsuitable for development. Thom is looking for a strategy to refill the voids with meaning. How to turn these dump sites into a motor for development? First, we have to open our eyes and perceive the voids in a different way. Thom studied the ideas of architectural historian Antoine Picon(2) when showing the disconnection between our image and interpretation of the landscape and the reality. Voids don’t function and therefore they do not make sense; that is what we see. But one could also embrace these characteristics of voids. If voids have no meaning they can become

the mining (his)story of Roșia Montană. What design strategy would fit this specific story? She turns to three landscape projects to search for an answer. In the man-made island Tiengemeten (Natuurmonumenten) the elements that historically structure the landscape are used in the landscape design. By stressing them one can read how the landscape worked and still works.

In the project Riverbed artist Olafur Elliasson put

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anything. Therefore, they can become catalysts for social interaction and creative experiments.

For Thom the key towards a successful use of voids lays in particular in activating the relationship of the voids with the natural and urban landscape. By seeing voids as a structure a new typology for public spaces and engagement can arise.

museum made Iruma realise there is great potential in using the other 98%.

Iruma made an impressive scheme of general requirements for different types of new use of underground structures. Considered facts are types of spaces (like galleries and voids), environmental conditions (like temperature and humidity), as well as factors related to the people of the community (as traditional knowledge like know-how and skills and customs like tradition and memories). Next, she maps the values of the Roșia Montană area. By motivating which values, present in Roșia Montană, fit the different ways of re-use Iruma filters out three possible new functions: cheese aging, mushroom farming and mining museum in combination with speleotourism. This scheme is valuable input for everyone wanting to turn the underground landscape into an economic motor. As an urbanist Iruma presented therefore the first essential step - gathering and sharing knowledge - in a socio-economic transformation process.

Iruma Rodríguez Hernández (urbanism) Re-defining. Other uses for the underground mine structures in Roșia Montană.

Iruma Rodríguez Hernández sees potential in the abandoned mining infrastructure, a huge structure covering the hilly environment of Roșia Montană. From the huge amount of underground galleries only 2% is in use now by the Roșia Montană Mining Museum. Stepping in the underground world during a tour in the 12

Joost van der Schoot (architecture) Remote architecture Joost van der Schoot urges us with his paper to look for new stories to change people’s mentality in relation to sustainability. Joost researches architecture in remote places. He perceives remote places as places without resources, places where nature is hostile though beautiful. They make you change your mentality in order to survive. Roșia Montană is such a remote place. He states that making architecture in those places forces us to use, fight and overcome the consequences of being remote in order to reach the potentials it has to offer. As a result building in remote places means you have to be smart.

By focussing on the use of material and transport Joost makes the lessons to be learned from remote places concrete. He studies cases of remote architecture and for example explains that the Cape Verdean visitor centre is made on-site cast concrete, because this way of building is used by the locals and the material is found in the nearby volcano area. Joost’s study makes clear that people have an essential role in making our world more sustainable.

Local traditions like building methods are almost always sustainable and therefore local knowledge should be treasured. The observation that we need these stories about the way people live and use their environment to eventually shape their mentality towards a more sustainable way of living is of great importance for our future.

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Looking at the results of the O5 Paper some elements stand out:

of the Academy of Architecture. Iruma showed the power of knowledge. She didn’t tell people what to do, but offered them information so they are able to make good decisions. Lourdes designed a strategy that gives communities more power.

Speaking landscapes Experiencing the landscape of Roșia Montană made the students more aware of the uniqueness of the narratives of the mining landscape. Lynn and Jan for example searched for ways to make stories visible and let the landscapes ‘speak’ again. These designed experiences are important in making people understand the landscape and therefore value its history, present and future.

Speak out loud Words have been of great importance for the future of Roșia Montană. The listing of Roșia Montană as a candidate UNESCO world heritage site is the start of a new vision for the future development of this town. It was a result of one of the largest campaigns over a non-political cause in the last twenty years in Romania in which a huge amount of organizations spoke out against future mining projects, from Greenpeace to the Romanian Academy. In this process words were strong tools that helped changing the landscape forever. But where to start? Which stories have in this new political actuality significance to tell and in what way?

This question might have been the driving force beyond all the O5 papers.

Storytelling as political tool The role of independent storytellers is important in an area where people are quite divided about the future of mining. The student’s aim of their research projects was to gather facts about the (history of the) landscape. In the political debate about the future of Roșia Montană this factual understanding and experience of the landscape is very important. It forms a base to make motivated choices about the future of the mining village.

Taking position Working in such a political sensitive environment made the students think about their positions as (landscape) architects or urbanists. Taking position is always a very personal choice and an important element in the educational curriculum

Notes 1. Potteiger & Purinton, Landscape Narratives. Design Practices for Telling Stories, John Wiley and sons (1998).

2. Antoine Picon, ‘Anxious Landscapes: From the Ruin to Rust,’ in: Grey Room 01 (2000).

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Looking up from the underground into the Cetate mine

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After the Gold Rush by: Jan Eiting

Were the underground and upperground meet, ‘enhancing landscape’ projects are initiated that emphasize the sensoral experiences of the heritage and reveal the beauty of the landscape.

The main project is located in mountain Cetate.

This ‘modern’ open-pit mine provokes negative association by the local inhabitants, because it was started under Ceausescu’s regime and it represents the typical landscape devastation caused by mining. Inside the open-pit mine, heavy metals are exposed on the bare rocks and ecological succession will be extremely slow for the next 100 years. In this proposal, the mine will be revegetated, speeding up the succession process. By seeding the contramal of the minegalleries structures, 2000 years of galleries digging will become visible, and will function as paths in a fresh and biodiverse ecosystem.

The project could thereby reinvigorate the local communities who could benefit from the recreational activities that this site would bring.

Rosia Montana is situated in the valley of the Munti Metalliferi, a mountain range in the Carpathians that is known for their gold and silver. The landscape is embedded with traces of thousands years of gold mining, above and under the ground. Most of the gold in the region has already been mined, but there is still gold available in very small particles in the ground.

The plans to extract the gold are devastating for the area. Four mountains have to be flattened, from which the cyanide residue will be dumped in a nearby valley. This will destroy the area and its ecosystem.The project is on a hold, but the future of Rosia Montana is uncertain. If they decide to continue with mining, Europe’s most important gold mining history will be lost forever, and maybe worse, the region will face an ecological disaster.

After the Gold Rush is a proposal that shows the opportunities of preserving this gold mining landscape by. Currently, the quality of the landscape experience is low for visitors as most of the mining artifacts are hidden underground and are inaccessible. In this proposal, old mine galleries will be opened up again, making it possible to walk through ancient galleries underneath the village of Rosia Montana from mountain to mountain.

After the Gold Rush is a proposal on how to change the discussion on the controversial case of Rosia Montana. Its shows how the heritage landscape can be preserved and transformed in a publicly accessible attraction for visitors,where local communities can continue to live in harmony with their environment.

Walk through ancient galleries underneath the village of Rosia Montana from mountain to mountain

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Process of revegatating the Cetate mine. Groundwork, vegetate the contramal, adding park elements

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A gradient of trees around an open space in the middle dramatize the spatial experience inside the mine

Through one of the galleries a big opening in the galleries will lead you to the middle of the mine

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Several pockets in the mine galleries structure pop up as ideal places for a bench or a viewpoint

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In a few years a fresh ecosystem has grown that reveals the history of the place and is a publicly accessible attraction for visitors

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hidden garden

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Re-Imagining RoČ™ia Montană by: Lourdes Barrios Ayala

Rosia Montana, a unique place in Romania Many political periods have passed, but mining has been always the main culture and source of profit in this landscape. During the last 16 years, RMGC has been buying properties and demolishing houses, destroying traditions as the village looses its character. What fascinates me is the urgency that I feel of saving it. The promise that RM can be for next generations.

- Give a role to vacant structures according with their shape Large-scale vision: A unique setting tat combines heritage, living and landscape Big elements that can be combined and used in a smarter way, Connecting landscape with heritage and community living. To make land produce again, to reinforce the blue/green structure. But also to give jobs to people, identify areas where tourism and recreation can be more developed. And a place in the village that could be the heart of this activity.

This would give a new color to Rosia Montana.

A community that has lost its place A mix of ethnic groups and many religions, people who were born here but others that came. with something in common: memories fading away as their surroundings are being destroyed.

The Pilot plot It has all the elements, private, company and neglected vacant spaces. The river that is passing by, how can you from the inside still can identify cultural elements from the village but also take a look at the traditional way of rural living. It is also surrounded by hiking trails and connects with the main public space of the village

Going through 2000 years of mining history A place like this can’t be found anywhere else in the world. Many natural and cultural postmining potentials can be found, but they are unknown and disconnected in the form of vacant structures and fragmented surfaces, owned by the mining company.

The linear park: a new garden for Rosia Montana The design results in a linear park, a sequence of spaces that celebrate old elements as the identity and the feeling of the place, but include new ones that add a needed functionality, but are always somehow related with the traditions and history inside the village.

An exceptional landscape This village is surrounded by an impressive topography that gives place to scenographic views. But also by fragmented land taken by communism and given back useless to people.

Developing a strategy: using vacancy as a connector of traditions, landscape and heritage National, regional, local and community scale Main actions: - Put Rosia Montana on the heritage map - Reconnect the region for tourism and biodiversity - Resize and give use to the plots

The existing plots are redefined in size and use, some for private and others for tourism or public facilities. The available land is used for orchards that generate income for villagers, but also make an impact in the landscape, giving it back color and personality. This also will accentuate the seasonality of the place. Even when separated in space, these plots work together: local goods

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The Vacancy

The River

The village is today 80% empty and many structures have been abandoned and overgrownby nature

The Wall

The Rosia Montana River runs trough the whole village but is now disconnected and neglected from public space

The wall is an element present the landscape and the whole village. It had diversity of functions: space barrier, land retention, flood control

fascinations

Including Rosia Montana as part of a national heritage route

Reinforcing connexions from village to landscape

Reconfiguring plot size and consecutively land use

Giving a new function to vacant structures

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masterplan

others for providing privacy to residents. The materials are also used for public realm elements, furniture, bridges, etc.

produced in the orchards can be sold in the tourism facilities, but also houses of farmers can work as accommodation, providing a win-win situation.

Role of inhabitants and tourists in the future Rosia Montana Combining residents and tourists in the same space creating a circular local economy and strengthening the community, this way the identity is reinforced and prepared for what the future will bring.

The buildings are reviewed by their condition and use. The monuments in front of the square are occupied by services for tourists and residents like: coffee, groceries, bike rental, and others. The buildings in bad shape are deconstructed, giving space to secret rear gardens growing in generated microclimates by the heated structure.

Materials The materials extracted are used to create new walls that go appearing one side and the other, some of them are for the direction of the water, others for retaining the topography,

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entrance

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section

Combining two kinds of attraction: short and long stay visitors!

social scheme

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Contemplating the Void by: Thom Knubben

‘Void: a empty area or space in the urban landscape’. Nowadays the open areas in the landscape of Rosia Montana are a disposition – in search of an identity. In this project I am looking for a strategy, particularly a strategy that can ensure that an empty space in the landscape can create a coherent whole between the landscape and the urban structure.

To arrive to a recapitulation, in which it is also finally possible to see the end of the void and the return of the public space where the empty spaces can once again be romantic.

No longer a scientific ruin but a beautiful one that can have a strategic relationship with the natural landscape.

A intervention that is inserted in the site with the objective of linking the monumental level to the modern and contemporary one and to render the sense of the place and its monuments explicit and accessible, by promoting its usability but most importantly its beauty.

The continuous topography, made up of green hills, extends throughout the area of the project ‘sewing the seams’ between the monuments and the contemporary city, eliminating the gap between the levels and giving back the original meaning of public spaces and places of Rosia Montana, the voids I am using are already present, I do not create any new ‘spaces’ but make proper use of the underlying structure and the qualities that are already there…. In this way the ‘voids’ establish an extraordinary continuous park.

By making a subtile intervention the void will create a fluid transition between architecture and landscape. A natural platform which improves all layers of society…

The intervention is fundamentally a architecture – landscape project, one whose key elements are the modulation of the terrain and the design of the void. This experience will be memorable.

conceptual sketch

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site map

glass pavilion

art wall

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gazebo

glass pavilion

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elevation art wall

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1 - STAINLESS STEEL Ø 40MM MIRROR FINISHED 2 - ALUMINIUM PLATE 3MM EPOXY GLUE BIRCH PLYWOOD 19MM EPOXY GLUE ALUMINIUM PLATE 3MM MIRROR FINISH

detail gazebo

detail art wall

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2 1 - COLUMN 2 - LOWER BEAM 3 - BACK GIRDER 4 - UPPER BEAM 5 - CONNECTING GIRDER 6 - BIRCH WOOD FINISH 1

glass pavilion

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intervention

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Narrative of Roșia Montană by: Lynn Ewalts

While we were standing on this amazing spot with a view over a valley with little houses and beautiful colours in the hilly landscape of Rosia Montana in Romania, our guide told us; ‘This gigantic valley in front of you, will disappear. If the mining company will continue mining the valley will be one of the waste places where the mining company dumps chemicals. So this valley will change into an enormous polluted lake.’

That was only one small part of the story about the landscape in Rosia Montana.

To make people aware of the situation in Rosia Montana I want to design a route that shows this narrative of mining. This route is situated on the line of the lake that could be there in the future and thereby becomes visible for the visitors. On this route different functions are added to show the layers in the landscape. Functions as, a museum, several shelters, viewpoints and cabins will apear on the route while walking through the landscape. The visitors can take a rest on these points and in the same time elements of the landscape are shown. If the mining projects will continue in Rosia Montana and the possible lake will become reality the route will still function and will still show the narrative of Rosia Montana.

Rosia Montana is an area in the North-West of Romania where throughout the ages many layers of history gathered. During the Roman Empire the Romans discovered the area of Rosia Montana with its wealth of gold. The Romans start building a huge gallery network underground where they intensively mined the gold.

Nowadays these are still present.

After the Roman period traditional, family- or small group-operated mining has been going on for roughly two millennia, all the way into the Modern Times. Family- or small group-operated mining was stopped in 1948, with the communist nationalization, followed by industrial, state-run mining. Nowadays the goldmines are in hands of the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation and started mining on a much larger scale, the opencast mining project, leading to the destruction of the upper part of several mountains and polluted areas around.

This story is still visible in the landscape, some parts intangible, some parts tangible. With the future plans of the mining company these narratives in the landscape will dissapear and will not be visible anymore.

mining museum

look out lake view grass low vegetation forrest hill cabin

forrest cabin

shelter shelter

meadow cabin

shelter

map

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cabin

museum

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research lab

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Post Mining Research Lab by: Joost van de Schoot

Rosia Montana is dealing with a change in the way they exist and have been functioning trough history. The role of a designer in an area like Rosia Montana is about designing a new start. For my design that was dealing with the quality’s and downsides of a beautiful rough landscape. Designing a research lab can help re-establish the area and make them deal with the scars left behind from mining. At the same time the building functions as a case study for

adding new volume to landscape lines

self sufficiency for the people of the area but also people in urban areas. Al these elements can be show to public visitors who can visit the building and learn about their environment. This design deals with the angular landscape lines and the carved out slopes that define the mining landscape, while ate the same time showing that self sufficiency can be beautiful.

capturing landscape in courtyard

scheme

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let the landscape ‘flow’ trough

corridor

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floor plan

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birds eye

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social scheme

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Impression of cheese ageing in mine of location 1

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Branza Rosie by: Iruma Rodríguez Hernández

‘Brânză Roșie is the origin denomination for the artisanal cheeses made by rural dairy farmers in Roșia Montană, Romania. This cheese is made mainly from sheep’s milk; which most come exclusively from herds raised in the Apuseni mountains...’ this could be the new legacy of Roșia Montană.

and age it in the underground mine structures.

This transition of ‘land use’ (from gold to cheese) requires more than spatial solutions; it requires a change of paradigm. This project represents a model of how could this work.

The first step shows how to adapt the cheeseproduction processes the much possible to the existing logistic structures (interaction between the surface functions and those under the ground). The second step establishes which spatial principles are needed for a farm to become or create and function as a dairy, within the existing town structure. The next step determines in which locations the development of a dairy can take place in the most efficient way. Here it is taken into account diversity in sizes and social associations (small or big family- run dairies, or cooperatives), possibilities of growth and relationship with other activities that are developing in the village, such as small scale tourism. The last step is to visualize the spatial principles in three of different locations, as examples of how it could happen with the rest.

Roșia Montană has extracted gold for longer than 2000 years from underground mines in the Apuseni mountains. The Roșia Montană Gold Corporation wants to extract the remains of gold, by removing mountains and creating cyanide lakes, affecting the landscape and the people. To avoid this, Roșia Montană got listed as a UNESCO world heritage candidate, where no more would would be extracted. The question: to mine, and lose landscape, heritage and community; or not to mine, and destine heritage for tourists and have no production means?... there’s a third scenario, however, where Roșia Montană reuses its existing productive infrastructures and know how and starts building up around a different productive activity.

One of the alternatives of economic activity for the village is to produce cheese in a larger scale

PEASANT LIFE Ore extraction

Tailings taken to surface, to "ştiurţ"

Main square, commercial facilities, markets and animal fairs

Ore crushed into pieces in “steampuri” Ore transported to “steampuri”

(Aurar) washes gold out of ore dust

Houses and farms

Herd shed

Sheepherding

(Aurar)- goldsmith works the gold out

IMPORT OF SOMEGOODS

EXPORT OF GOLD

NEW TOURISTIC FUNCTIONS SEARCHING FOR ECONOMIC REACTIVATION

use of infrastructure in golf extraction as main process

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section of the mountain

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PEASANT LIFE Reuse of MINE for CHEESE AGEING

Cheese transported to mine

Commerce and market on main square

Cheese is made in dairies

Milk is transported to dairies

Milking in sheds or farms

Sheepherding

Experience sell in dairies

EXPORT OF Brânză Roșie

LOCAL SELL OF Brânză Roșie

IMPORT OF SOMEGOODS FURTHER ECONOMIC REACTIVATION WITH OTHER SMALL FUNCTIONS & CONNECTING ROUTES

use of infrastructure in cheese-making as main process

general plan

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In the present situation, start producing cheese in basement

A.s.a.p., build a dairy with proper conditions closer to mine opening

Extend and refurbish dairy building, and integrate new functions to touristic system. In this example, bistro (combination of tasting room, cafĂŠ and shop)

In the present situation, start producing cheese in basement

A.s.a.p., build a building for dairy in front of mine opening

Extend and refurbish dairy building, and integrate new functions to touristic system. In this example, visitor centre, parking and small park

In the present situation, start conditioning any available leftover of building

A.s.a.p., build a dairy with proper conditions next to mine opening

A.s.a.p., grow and integrate new functions to touristic system. In this example, hostel for agrotourism

example of location with mine inside plot

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Impression of new dairy and plot regorganization on location 1

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golden circle full with polluted water

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Injured Landscape by: Jeroen Boon

the open crater into a purification plant, the battered landscape can be healed. Polluted water and sludge must be returned to the crater via the existing transport route. In a large iconic reservoir, the collected water and sludge are purified.

The demand for raw materials increases and therefore also the need to cope with the scenic scars that it entails. Nobody dumps a huge hole in the ground just for fun. Due to the uniqueness of these scenic wounds, new opportunities can arise. Ecological pearls, water buffers or clean energy are opportunities that can transform wounds into scenic scars.

The rich history adds an extra appeal to the area beside the raw materials. Not only the Roman gold mining but also the current way of mining must be shown to give a future to the area after gold mining. Invisible structures must become visible again. By filling out the hollow spaces in the mountains, the valuable gold fraction can be delved. What remains is a sculptural network that decorates the view as an artwork.

The village of Roşia Montană in Romania has become prominent by gold mining. However, the current gold mining has stopped because of the violent protests by the population due to the controversial recovery method. This controversial method of gold mining makes us think. Proper landscape architecture can explore new opportunities by connecting different factors. They are required to show how it can become better and smarter. The project ‘’harrowed landscape’’ outlines the possibilities of enriching the area thanks to the gold mining.

By using the uniqueness of the wounds in the landscape, the current issues surrounding the village can be addressed. This strategy offers opportunities for responsible mining, which not only solves problems but also clarifies the future of the village.

The winning of copper creates significant wounds in the landscape arose in the form of a polluted lake and a huge crater. By transforming

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former corridors visible as a landmark

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inverse corridor

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exibit former corridor

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overview

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Colophon Tutors

Students

Harro de Jong, Buro Harro Lada Hršak, Bureau LADA Marieke Berkers, architectural historian Maike van Stiphout, head of Department of Landscape Architecture

Iruma Rodríguez Hernández [U] Jan Eiting [LA] Jeroen Boon [LA] Joost van der Schoot [A] Lourdes Barrios Ayala [LA] Lynn Ewalts [A] Thom Knubben [A]

Authors

Publication

Joana Pinheiro, Europa Nostra Stefan Baliçi, Architecture.Restoration.Archeology (ANA)

Jeroen Boon

October 2017

This publication has been made possible with support of: Europa Nostra Academy of Architecture Amsterdam