David Stancu was born in 1985 in Bucharest, Romania and finished the “Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning”1 in Bucharest in 2010. The diploma project dealt with commercial and social effects by proposing a new traditional green market in the place of an older one that outgrew itself by adding a kind of flea-market. The accompanying thesis analyzed the South-Eastern European traditional commercial spaces as a synthesis of Western and Eastern commercial practices.
He started internships early right after the 2nd year of collage and continued working right up to the end of his studies, gaining a solid technical background. In the same period he also took part in student and professional competitions.
The following three years after graduation he has worked in Hangzhou, China (October 2010 – September 2013) for a couple of Chinese companies. There he oversaw the architectural design for a multitude of projects ranging from residential complexes to commercial developments and mixed use structures. Thus he got involved in various activities ranging from small studies, measurements, to concept design.
While in China he tried to keep connected to activities outside the office and held a presentation at Hangzhou Green Drinks2 promoting better insulation of buildings as a means for better living standards as well as energy and economy efficiency. For this he drew on his expertise from Isover Students’ Contests3 that were in their turn promoting the Passive House Concept.
During the time spent in China David Stancu extended his area of interest and along with Davey Warren4 and Alexandru Muntean he started Stechkin Photos, focusing on the unusual hiding in plain sight and on the photography path he also published in That’s Zhejiang magazine. Then, willing to share his Asian experience to whoever was interested in he published articles about China and travels in Asia on Asia Docs and he also published articles about Chinese society on Civitas Politics. In his spare time he started working on a Mount&Blade video game modification.
David Stancu registered with the Romanian Architects’ Chamber in early 2011 and got his stamp in early 2014, whitch is equivalent to a Part III RIBA registered Architect.
He returned to Bucharest in late 2013 and started freelancing, consolidating his practice.
1Universitatea de Arhitectura si Urbanism “Ion Mincu”, Bucuresti
2Hangzhou Green Drinks
3Isover Students’ Contest 2008, 2009, 2010
4Davey Warren has tumblr, cargo collective and instagram accounts