Hyper

In Romania, like in much of the Eastern Block, the transition from a socialist system to a democratic one based on capitalism was operated in haste and mostly limited to surface level. One could easily argue the particular eastern socio-economical and political environment of Romania thus went through forced and unnatural evolution. It’s in this context, albeit predictably, that the proliferation of numerous hyper-market chains in the urban environment stands out.

What surfaces is a syncretism on an socioeconomical plane that’s also felt on the urban level aesthetic. The non-functional mix of hyper, consumerism, capital and American dream – the failure of all these ideals in the Balkan context (and in particular the Romanian one) has repercussions in the architectonic fabric of the city. Over night, the neighborhoods are filled with alienating, unremarkable, modular buildings, hard to integrate in the atmosphere and general scheme of the cities already battered by poor architecture and urban planning.