L’architettura industriale in Romania durante il regime comunista. Hunedoara: Lo sviluppo ed il destino di un sito metallurgico di rilevanza nazionale, 1947–1999

The matter of the 20th century architectural heritage represents widely a main research theme in a context in which it faces numerous impediments in its patrimonial endorsement. This context can worsen in the case when to the recent past built environment is given a political (totalitarian) affiliation. Such a case can be considered Romania, where the built environment dating the 1945 ‐ 89 years is commonly associated with the Communist regime, and thus, regarded with great resentment.In this context, the research puts focus on the Romanian industrialisation during Communism, when it represented the trigger of all territorial and socio‐economic changes, but with particular attention to its industrial architectural manifestation as distinctive theme of the architectural practice of those years. Furthermore, following the moment of Communism’s fall in 1989, the research addresses also the impact of the post‐socialist shifts on the industrial architectures and their perception from patrimonial point of view. All these aspects were chosen to be analysed through the case study of Hunedoara, a Transylvanian town with a metallurgic industry already dating the 19th century, which during the Communism became an ‘epitome’ of the post‐ 1945 industrialisation and also an ‘experimental designing laboratory’ in matter of industrial architecture. However, in present day, Hunedoara represents a paragon of the deindustrialisation impact on metallurgy, bringing forward the issue of fast material disappearance of the recent past. Through the plural contextual readings and interconnection of various documentation sources intends to bring forward the material architectural history of Hunedoara’s (Romania) industrialisation during the 1945 – 89, interpreted so far strictly trough the political aspect, while the analysis of 2 nowadays Hunedoara intends to rise further questions and debates concerning the approach of industrial heritage dating the recent past especially in a context in which the ‘steel landscapes’ are threatened by complete disappearance.