RIGOUR OF A FREE SPIRIT
“Knowing the client’s personality is essential, their vision of life and dwelling, their dreams, temperament, culture, tastes, passions. You are like a detective trying to find out things that perhaps even the client does not know about themselves or does not realise.”
Arh. Mihai Butucaru
Photo by Dan St. Andrei
Mihai Butucaru has divided his entire existence between architecture and yachting, both equally passion and profession, both almost genetic conditions, because he follows in the footsteps of an entire series of family members consumed by the same “passions”. Apparently with no connection, the two fields required mathematical rigour and discipline and rewarded him by satisfying his thirst for freedom and his longing for beauty and boundlessness. He has achieved “performance” in both, marking the contemporary history of both yachting and architecture.
LD: After such an introduction, the reader might remain slightly puzzled. Where does the passion for architecture come from and what does yachting have to do with our discussion?
M.B.: It is a unique story. In childhood, I lived together with my parents in my maternal grandfather’s nationalised house. Through this house, in the 1960s–1970s, many of his architect friends came and went, among whom I mention Gheorghe Simotta, Tiberiu Niga, Nicolae Cucu, Nicolae Lupu. There were many others, because to these architects active in the interwar period my grandfather was not only a friend but also a contractor in the construction of more than 150 buildings. I did not understand much at that time from what they were discussing, but the aura those people had was special.
In addition, two other architects, my uncles Iulian (Ică) Deșcu and Gheorghe (Gică) Mihai, opened the doors of their home studios to me, and there I was able to see what design meant, as it was done in those times. Ică was about the same age as my grandparents, and Gică the age of my parents. The encounter with these people, absolutely special, was decisive in choosing my future profession, initially attending the Architecture High School and later the “Ion Mincu” Institute of Architecture and Urbanism. However, if I had not become an architect, I would certainly have been a yachting coach.
In fact, I also practiced this profession between 1986, when I obtained my coaching qualification, and 1992, coaching during this period both the club team, of which I have been a member since 1968, and the national teams of Romania and Egypt. If the events of the end of 1989 had not happened, I would probably still be a coach, the reason being that, after finishing university, I avoided as much as possible being enlisted in the system of “socially commissioned design” of that time. Coaching gave me a lot of freedom, satisfaction and success. I believe that whatever profession you choose, you must practice it with professionalism, passion and joy.
LD: In order to get to know you better, readers need a series of contextual information that helps them outline the image of the professional. In this sense, could you list some of the projects that bear your signature or in which you were involved?
M.B.: I have been involved in more than 200 projects, in smaller or larger teams, in which I had different roles, from project leader to consultant, passing through co-author or object designer, in various architectural programmes such as family and collective housing, office buildings, hotels, restaurants, hospitals or restoration projects for heritage buildings.
I can mention a few that have some notoriety, such as the restoration of the Hanul Berarilor ensemble, Casa Bucur, the Carul cu Bere restaurant, The Marmorosch Hotel, the Știrbei Palace in Bucharest, the regional hospitals in Craiova, Cluj and Iași. I have also worked abroad, in Switzerland, Moldova and Congo.
LD: Do clients come to you only through recommendations, or can you also be found and approached after searching the internet for professionals in the field?
M.B.: In most cases, recommendations from satisfied clients brought me other projects. Online searches from potential clients have not brought me any project. There were some attempts, but nothing materialised. The type of projects I do are addressed to a rather limited category of clients, individuals or companies who, in most cases, have the necessary culture, know what they want and what to ask for, and trust the professionals they hire and have the resources to complete what they set out to do. In general, these clients look for formulas that have performed previously, in order to minimise the risk of failure.
Photo courtesy of Marmorosch
Interview by Monica Ady
Discover the full version of this interview in Volume III.