The Mauksch-Hintz House. The Pharmacy House – The “Cure” for a House

Summary (and also an “explanatory note” on how I approached this topic): the chosen topic is an insight into the complex process that was at the basis of the “Consolidation, Restoration and Adaptive Reuse” of a historic building in Cluj, a building that, as the extensive (historical, archaeological, dendrological) studies have proven, sums up multiple stages of construction extending over six centuries (without counting the Roman period). The article is not a presentation of the whole process (design and project delivery) that brought the building back to life and made it what it is today. Instead, it is a (subjective) review of the characteristics and story of a building that, despite its rich and somewhat tumultuous history, is not distinguished by its many artistic components, or by its history, marked by notable owners from Cluj, of a building that, compared to others in the city, we could call modest (according to the above-mentioned criteria). In other words, the intention of the article is simply to point out How and Why such a building has become, for us today, the magnet that is called the “Hintz House”. And when I say “subjective”, I mean that I do not detail the architectural approach (analysis, versions, final proposals), but only the structural interventions imposed by the “adaptive reuse”. In short, the article (apart from the historical data) lists only certain structural changes the building has undergone over time, and how these have prompted or determined architectural and, implicitly, structural decisions, but above all, it tries to emphasize (successfully or not, you decide) the subjective value of the building.