Interview: Architect Oana Stănescu by Pierre Alexandre de Looz c/o PIN-UP Magazine

Oana Stănescu. Potrait by Asger Carlsen for PIN–UP.

Key Takeaways

On purpose-driven architecture:

“The fundamental question today is ‘What do you care about? Who are you in all of this?’ The skills that architecture students learn are super valuable. We need spaces. We need reasons to be in places. We need reasons to pull our heads out of our phones. And we need people who are able to think by themselves. Don’t wait for a design brief. Look around you. Ask yourself what can be done better, and do it!” —Oana Stănescu

On space-making across disciplines:

He was also bridging the creative process; where in music many people collaborate at the table, he was trying to do the same in architecture, and it was more difficult in architecture! He gave me freedom and helped me believe in myself, one thing for which I will be eternally grateful to Kanye. To me the interesting conversations always happen outside of the architecture field. If you have ten people with the same background looking at the same problem, you’re going to end up with the same solution. We need new perspectives, and there’s so much to learn from each other. —Oana Stănescu

On the hidden tax of great cities:

“I can’t believe it took me such a long time to discover what’s going on here, to realize that 43.5 percent of New Yorkers live around the poverty line. That’s still blowing my mind and makes me cringe when we’re blasting it as the greatest city in the world. It may be, but for whom and at what cost?” —Oana Stănescu

On institutional systems:

“At the age of six or seven I understood that something that seems unquestionable one day can be completely reversed the next. All of a sudden a country doesn’t have a system anymore — no educational system, no structure, nothing in place. It’s terrifying but also super exciting because it shows you that everything is up for grabs. It shows you that all these institutions, all these things that we created, are abstract and artificial. It’s important to believe in them and to fight for them. You need to fight for them because they can always crumble.” —Oana Stănescu

On playful environments:

“We’re very hardened by the way of the world today. Everyone is super bogged down; there’s no optimism at all about the future. Can you create a place that just allows you to forget about that, to let your guard down, to communicate once more, see the world, see yourself, see everything through something way more visceral, more honest maybe? We wanted to create a place that connects humans and makes us human and that isn’t tied to words. That was the notion of play. It’s the one thing that biologically cannot be explained. Animals play too. The smarter the mammal, the more they play. (Laughs.) It hasn’t been explained because, though it takes up a lot of energy and is dangerous, it serves no obvious purpose from a biological, evolutionary point of view. I do think that ultimately you can probably trace back a lot of my projects, and those I did with Family, to fundamental values which I believe in or care about. In a letter I wrote for the MoMA/PS1 competition, I said something along the lines of, “What would be more glorious than for a project to allow or enable people to fall in love?” Falling in love doesn’t mean with someone else. It can be with life, with the moment, with the party, with the music, with the people you see, with the crowd, with anything. It’s very much about letting your guard down, creating a place that just allows you to be less hyper-rational.” —Oana Stănescu

On social norms and public space:

“Public space in the U.S. is a very contentious issue. There are a lot of questions about where it starts and where it ends and how much of it is truly public. And that is because when it is done not with the public but with the private in mind, those values will ultimately shine through any design, any gesture you might attempt to call public. One of the biggest questions for me is how it becomes hyper-regulated and hyper-prescribed. Everything is about safety. Everything is about litigation. It’s almost like everyone lives in fear. If you live in fear, you’re not going to be able to really enjoy or make that much out of life. Some studies show that technically safer playgrounds often instill more anxiety and fear in kids than actually allowing them to learn how to navigate and deal with situations on their own. With public spaces, it’s the same thing. They are a reflection of the society at large.” —Oana Stănescu