It would be correct to say that the task of designing the 1,400-square-meter business incubator building in Sfântu Gheorghe hit our small design firm as a bombshell. As we found it to be a very intriguing design topic, we accepted the challenge after a short deliberation, despite the fact that we knew we had an amazingly tight deadline and that some ambiguities regarding the legal status of the plot to be developed also would likely make our job difficult. We gladly undertook the work for weeks, from morning to evening, Monday to Sunday, and we promised our husbands that it’s for the last time…
It was an added pleasure that the business incubator will enable novice entrepreneurs in the creative industry. We enthusiastically delved into exploring the needs such these workshops/offices. We have come to the conclusion that in the case of certain branches of the creative industries, there will be entrepreneurs who will inspire not just with the fruits of their labor, but also with their spectacular work processes as well. To accommodate them, we designed display windows for the shops on the south side of the ground floor. This will also help start-ups by providing them visibility, as the building will be in the city center, near the buzz of the biggest market of the city and a parking garage.
We have envisioned office spaces of varying sizes and designs to cover as many needs as possible, all while limiting any possible disturbances and interferences between the different creative areas. We also took great care to resolve the soundproofing of the rooms in general, and especially in the case of the workshops, where we expect drilling, carving and hammering to take place frequently. For the coworking space located near the entrance area, we also made sure that the freelancers renting single desks or using the facilities provided by the institution will not feel as they will be working in a large empty echo-chamber. The building will also include facilities such as meeting rooms, printer stations, washrooms, showers, dining spaces with coffee machines. Those working here will receive accounting-, marketing- and legal advice as well.
Most offices will be smaller in size, designed for 2-3 people, as a novice entrepreneur or start-up rarely employs more people from the start. In the eventuality that more space is necessary, some rooms are designed to be easily interconnected: they can be doubled or even tripled in size, so even a 70 m2 office can be created.
The upstairs conference room can also be enlarged up to 100 seats. It can be used together with the main lobby of the building, or for private events it can function completely separately from the institution. We feel that the events and workshop activities will enrich the lives of those who will work here, and we hope that the knowledge gained and the community will pave the way for start-ups and make them successful. Common areas of note include the lobby/living room, the dining area and a lush green roof providing garden seating.
Vegetation will dominate the roof as well, where we envisioned an extensive green roof with drought-tolerant, care-free sedges. Owing to the angle of the roof, the green roof will also be visible from street level and will form a local attraction.
Our building will also be green in a figurative sense: we have paid serious attention to energy efficiency in the design of structural layers and in volumetric and functional design as well. One of the most important aspects of energy efficiency in our climate is good orientation: closing up to the north and opening up to the south. The question of summer overheating rightly arises, and of course there is a solution for this: exterior blinds. We want to gather the heat of the sun from autumn to spring. As the position of the sun is higher in summer, the exclusion of the sun’s rays in summer and their admission in winter can be easily solved with slats and canopies. Horizontal lamellae will be placed on the larger southern surfaces, and vertical ones on the west. In the former the case the high southern sun’s rays must be attenuated, while the radiation from the setting sun must be accounted for in the latter.
The design of the building’s surroundings and the determining of access routes were also challenging and rewarding. We believe that we have managed to create spectacular and well-functioning spaces and spatial connections. We can’t wait for the project to be completed so we can be sure of that in reality.
