Berzei 21: From Industrial Ruin to Urban Commons (a commons' narrative)
Tamina Lolev
Berzei 21 is an urban regeneration project in the heart of Bucharest, proposing the adaptive reuse of the former REBU industrial halls — a 22,680 sqm site owned by the City of Bucharest, currently underused and deteriorating — into a mixed creative, economic and community hub of local and regional significance.
The vision is built on four pillars: a creative commons for the city, diverse socio-cultural-economic infrastructure, quality public spaces, and an iconic landmark that strengthens Bucharest's identity. The programme would include co-working and residency spaces for artists, designers and NGOs, cultural production and event venues, professional training focused on urban development and heritage, green public spaces, hospitality, and pilot centres for the reuse of building materials and historic building maintenance.
The project is driven by a cluster of over 40 civil society organisations — anchored by Nod Makerspace, Fundația Comunitară București, Asociația Cartierul Creativ and others — working in a public-private-citizen partnership model. Its core principles are adaptive reuse of built heritage, participatory governance, economic diversity, and collective responsibility. In 2024–2025, the initiative developed a Good Practices Guide on Participatory Governance of Creative Centres in partnership with La Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille — one of Europe's longest-running cultural conversion projects.
The proposal won the Cities of Tomorrow competition (Civil Society category, Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce) and was featured at Romanian Design Week 2022 as part of the New European Bauhaus exhibition.
For 2026, the immediate goals are: establishing a working protocol with the City of Bucharest, securing the deteriorated structures, clearing the site, and launching a first recurring community event — the first steps toward a scalable model of urban regeneration co-developed by citizens and public authorities.
Planning partners: Berzei 21 is meant to be a public-private-citizen partnership model. The core initiating organizations are Nod Makerspace, Fundația Comunitară București, Asociația Cartierul Creativ, Baza. Deschidem Orașul, and Asociația Ivan Patzaichin.
Client: Beneficiary: the City of Bucharest
Categories: Building Redevelopment, Urban Development, Art and Culture, Education, Historic Preservation, Recreation and Tourism, Science and Research
Project Gallery
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What it is now
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How we work
Tamina Lolev RO
https://noddesignlab.ro/, https://nodmakerspace.ro/, https://materlibrary.ro/en/mater/, https://dambovitaapadulce.ro/
Splaiul Unirii 160, sector 4 | 040041 Bucuresti