Hotel Național - Arriving back home

An abandoned soviet hotel in the centre of Chisinau - the capital city of the Republic of Moldova - is being put under heritage protection after 15 years of demolition plans. While a welcome decision - the building being one of the most important examples of Soviet modernist architecture in the country - there is no vision for the future of the ensemble.

The project picks up the current physical, legal, and political situation of the hotel and - by comparing it to the current struggles of the country in the search for identity after the independence - proposes a vision where the society can come together and unite around. It picks up local elements, such as the still existing tradition of claca - the tradition of voluntarily building, planting and working together for a common goal - in order to create a new collective identity and overcome the divisive memories of the soviet past. The project doesn’t provide a definitive solution - as the future is currently too uncertain - but rather lays the first strategic stone for a process that is to develop.