Row houses. Both privacy and community. The aim of those who created the Baneasa ensemble of row houses was to offer a solution for those who want to live in a modern, comfortable, well-organized house, located in a quiet, welcoming area, and whose need of privacy is as important as that of belonging to a community.

Row houses offer the benefit of private and semi-private areas that protect the residents from the urban hustle and bustle yet do not isolate them, at the same time, creating a warm and relaxed climate instead, of good neighbourhood with the other residents.

To achieve this climate, the producers of the project saw to it that, in this area, carriage road traffic and pedestrian traffic should be restricted only to residents and their guests, thus hindering all nuisances caused by transit traffic. The fact that only small streets and alleys can be found inside the row houses ensemble represents a warranty that traffic will be maintained at reduced speeds, increasing the residents’ comfort and safety.

Since public and private space are defined differently here than inside the city, there are no fences between the sidewalk and the lawns of the houses. Areas are delimited by alternating paved areas and vegetation areas, the vegetal elements providing emphasis for the composition. Properties are marked only laterally, by means of low fences, doubled by vegetation. Behind the houses, where gardens are located and where the need for safety and privacy is higher, delimiting the spaces by means of vegetation is more substantial.

The aesthetic aspect of the row houses ensemble is achieved by stylistic unity and by avoiding monotony. Architects aimed at creating diversified volumes, which wouldn’t bore by repetition. However, although there are distinct models for residences, the façades’ defining elements use the same basic materials and colours, which helps to create a coherent and integrated ensemble.

There are three types of row houses. The Laguna-type houses are modern, with a flat, terraced roof, and have a summer, holiday appearance, reminding of Greece and the Mediterranean area and, as far as geometry is concerned, of the Bauhaus trend.

The Prairie-type houses have sloping roofs and, as typology, resemble the classic American houses, with gables that cut the façade. Finally, Pastoral-type houses have sloping roofs too, and resemble the more rustic style of Romanian countryside houses.