Driven by the need to redefine Gypsy identity within the new Romanian geopolitical reality, many prosperous Roma communities have started to experiment with the making of new settlements. Continually inhabited for over twenty years, these settlements consist of buildings that seem to defy the idea of finished product. They are ever-amended collages of transient architectures, permanent construction sites where possible Gypsy identities are being built, demolished, and rebuilt everyday.

This study argues that the dynamic nature of Roma building production is a direct reflection of the process of creating a visual identity against an unstable and ever-changing environment. Owing to a tradition established over centuries of nomadic existence of frequently redefining Gypsyness in opposition to the immediate non-gypsy environment, the Roma maker is compelled to constantly change the architectural repertoire in response to changes that engulf the larger society in its transition to capitalism. The process of refashioning the image of the settlement is further amended in reaction to its perceived image into the non-gypsy world, in a continuous effort to respond to both the need to be different (identity) and the desire to fit in (acceptance).

This paper explores specific processes of building production that enable the Roma maker to change the décor of the settlement both through small and incremental interventions, as well as periodical overhauls. Employing a construction process that distinguishes between building fixed structural enclosures and making flexible adornments, the Gypsies regard the settlement as a transitional space, where the flow of nomadic architectures amount to the ever elusive character of Gypsy identity.

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UnSettlement: The Transient Architectures of Gyspy Settlements

Article
Published in Interactions in the History of Architecture, Archhist 12, Dakam & Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul. 2012

Author: M. Razvan Voroneanu