It’s with a touch of sadness that I write this post, drawing to a close the Tarlungeni Live Project 2007. It has been a tumultous few days since our ‘Final Countdown’ post. Those in Sheffield will probably be aware of this, but I shall fill in the gaps for the rest of you…
Sitting in the Arts Tower on Thursday night, we were suddenly plunged into darkness (4.30pm) and here began probably the most interesting 24 hours we’ve ever had leading up to a presentation. A fire in the local electricity substation had taken out supply to the university campus. With all our work on the university server we relocated to not one but two different venues, each of which suffered the same fate! It was ironic that the same problem which hampered our best construction efforts in Romania had returned to haunt us in Sheffield! And so, with the university closed and our presentation cancelled, we sat down for dinner (6.00pm) and reflected on the project and our time spent together in Romania.
The story doesn’t end there, and Friday morning then carried its own rude awakening, as the university found an alternative venue (9.30 am) in which to hold the Whole School Event and Live Project presentations . Faced with the prospect of presenting empty-handed, we quickly put together another presentation and, dare I say it, probably gave a much better presentation (10.30 am) than we may have otherwise given. The powercut brought home to us once more the realities of this project, and the real, lived implications. This project was about much more than architecture, much more than us - it was about the twelve people we were there to help.
John
