BREC Talks to Adrian Untaru, Co-Founder, ADNBA

"We have many small developers that don’t allow the risk to get out of a pattern and, in this way, we have an excess of similar products. The demand for new homes is high, whatever there is on the market is being sold and we produce what has been sold."

With an experience of 15 years, ADNBA has established a reputation as a creative designer for residential compounds, being responsible for projects such as Urban Spaces, Occidentului 40, Forte Partners’ Aviatiei Park or Avalon Estate of Prime Kapital. As residential sector is rapidly developing we took the opportunity to question the co-founder of the architectural company, Adrian Untaru about the challenges of this new evolution.

How do you evaluate the evolution of the residential market in the last couple of years, as regards the requests of developers towards the designers?

We think there are too few examples of projects developed on long term, projects with mixed functions, much more suitable to a coherent development of the city. We don’t have a strategy for the city’s development. We have many small developers that don’t allow the risk to get out of a pattern and, in this way, we have an excess of similar products, wit no possibility of being differentiated. The demand for new homes is high, whatever there is on the market is being sold and we produce what has been sold.

Do the developers pay more attention to the design stage?

Yes. There is indeed a bigger involvement of developers in the design stage. Their experiences have probably shown that a project not thoroughly designed has small chances to go well. Also, the increasing competition on the market is probably the single benefit of this intense residential demand.

Do you receive requests for developing communities and not necessarily condos, as they have been perceived up to now?

We do receive those type of requests, but there are more likely exceptions. We have recently been involved in the development of such a project. A design process which took 18 months for an 8-hectare plot. There we had the opportunity to create a community as we envision, with a housing mix specific to a community, where we have individual and in line houses and apartments in low rise buildings, all of those along a service area, a club, a kindergarten, and a park accessible to all residents. We would like to see more approaches of this type and we refer here to a long-term development strategy.

How do you think the new quality residential developments in Bucharest will look like in five years from now? What architectural trends we will see? And what types of facilities there will be offered?

We believe, or better said we hope for a quality increase of the new residential developments. And we do not refer here to a more expensive finishing, which doesn’t necessarily lead to a different way of living. We hope for an education of consumption towards the quality of the living space, towards a building in which we enjoy staying as well as we enjoy looking at it. Homes are, for most of us, the most important investment during lifetime. The way these homes pass the time test directly influences the investment. This can go up or down, according to the overall quality of the entire project. And in the last couple of years we have noticed many examples in both cases, enough to help this economic education we need so badly.
On the other hand, is possible that the new generations to be more mobile and to prefer to rent, instead of buying. In this situation it would be much easier to change a home in a less qualitative project. This process could lead to new opportunities on the market: specialized entities which own and professionally administrate residential assets; a qualified client able to evaluate the sustainability of a new development.

In conclusion: integrated developments, probably of big dimensions, with common facilities which will bring a plus in quality living, responsible developed.

Source: Bucharest Real Estate Club