How Bucharest is Building with Its Past
Cities in Motion Film Series on Urban Reuse and Renewal
Last updated: August 25, 2026 Bucharest, Romania
It's the first film in a new chapter drawn from European cities reinventing themselves through resourceful urbanism approaches.
The opening documentary of the new chapter convenes key voices actively reshaping how Bucharest rebuilds: Ștefan Ghenciulescu, architect and curator; Tiberiu Mercurian, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, and Chris-Simon Mercurian, Artistic Director and Co-founder at Teatrul Grivița 53; Paul Moldovan, Interim Mayor of District 6; and Laura Dinu and Ștefan Mirică, architects at Metapolis.
A wetland pocket at Văcărești Nature Park, where reeds and reclaimed marshland now draw birdlife to the water's edge, with Bucharest's apartment blocks visible beyond.
A wetland pocket at Văcărești Nature Park, where reeds and reclaimed marshland now draw birdlife to the water's edge, with Bucharest's apartment blocks visible beyond.
Together, they explore how the city is turning reuse into a design opportunity — from a historic house transformed into Romania's first purpose-built independent theater since 1946, to 21 hectares of flood infrastructure at the Lacul Morii reservoir becoming a welcoming public landscape.
Constructing anew should not be the first option, as it is now, but maybe the last. Ștefan Ghenciulescu architect and curator
An aerial view of the completed waterfront promenade at Lacul Morii, where a red-paved path and sculptural steel gateways now line the reservoir's edge alongside Bucharest's residential neighborhoods.
An aerial view of the completed waterfront promenade at Lacul Morii, where a red-paved path and sculptural steel gateways now line the reservoir's edge alongside Bucharest's residential neighborhoods.
The Holcim Foundation's documentary film series will visit cities across Europe, carrying the same on-the-ground approach into each new chapter.
The film also deepens the Foundation's relationship with Bucharest: in June, its CityMakers Live event series launched at Teatrul Grivița 53 — winner of a Holcim Foundation Awards Acknowledgment prize in 2017.
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