The Youth (Tineretului) House was built between 1972-1978 in a post-war modern style, according to the project of the architects Haralambie Cocheci and Ivan Stern. The engineer Răzvan Ioan Mircea and the sculptor Peter Jecza also collaborated on the construction of the edifice. During the socialist period, the building functioned as the headquarters of the Timiș Communist Youth Union and hosted concerts, theater performances, cinema, cenacles, etc.
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The Youth (Tineretului) House was built between 1972-1978 in a post-war modern style, according to the project of the architects Haralambie Cocheci and Ivan Stern. The engineer Răzvan Ioan Mircea and the sculptor Peter Jecza also collaborated on the construction of the edifice. During the socialist period, the building functioned as the headquarters of the Timiș Communist Youth Union and hosted concerts, theater performances, cinema, cenacles, etc.
Haralambie Cocheci and Ivan Stern were part of the architects collective of the 1960s-1970s who carried out numerous projects, transforming Timișoara into a truly modern city. Technical director of the Timișoara Design Institute (IPROTIM), Cocheci graduated from the "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism in 1951, and Ivan Stern in 1968, leaving his mark on the city through other remarkable constructions, such as Casa de Mode Timișoara.
Two large bas-reliefs were made on the facade of the Youth House, built of concrete by the sculptor Peter Jecza in 1975, named: Tinerii I and Tinerii II.
After the December 1989 Revolution, during 1990, the "Timișoara Trial" took place in the auditorium of the Youth House, in which security officers and representatives of the Romanian Communist Party were tried, in an attempt to reconstruct the events of the Timisoara Revolution.
At the moment, the building is managed by FITT (Timiș County Youth Foundation) and includes a gym, a section of the Timiș County Library, several workshops, as well as rental spaces and several hotel rooms. The performance hall, with a capacity of 400 seats, was renovated during 2013.
Bibliography:
https://2019.artencounters.ro/ro/locationbio-ro/?id=11643 website accessed in March 2023.
The Youth House
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It was around 1974–1975. I was 19 years old. I had just finished high school, and... disaster! I didn't get into college. Those times punished you for such a failure. I had to get a job in production if I still wanted to go back to college, so I got a job at ISCH (?) – an energy research institute—where the director was a friend of my mother, "Uncle Floricel". Since I didn't really have anything to work on (who wants to mess with a kid, the boss's "connection"? ), I had time to look out the window. In front of me, I could see how the Youth House was growing. I was living that hustle and bustle as a spectator. The building was "wrapped" in scaffolding. I was trying to catch a glimpse of what was beyond them. I didn't understand. Not only that, but I was fascinated by the promise of something important. Maybe I sensed that there was something about me...
Shortly after that I entered college. Caught in the whirlwind of my new life, I forgot the mirage that with which the construction of the Youth House attracted me in the mornings. In 1978, I met Peter Jecza, and he invited me into his life. The great meeting of my life was being achieved. I then realized that, in fact, the "meeting" had taken place a little earlier, while I was looking fascinated at the spectacle on the façade of the Youth House: he had been the orchestrator of the crowd doing that strange ballet on the scaffolding. In 1975, he created the "Youth" bas-relief, two compositional structures of over 200 square meters, developed vertically and horizontally that alternated rhythmic and symmetrical surface elements.
In his memoirs, Peter noted on that work: "Despite the imposed theme, I still consider it a settled thing, which suits the volume of the construction well. In addition, from a technical point of view, it was an important exercise because the concrete was poured directly into the formwork made of polystyrene, which, for the builders, was unacceptable."
How strange fate prepares our meetings...
Excerpt from Mixed Days 3. Pages of (pseudo) correspondence. December 19, 2015 - March 19, 2016, manuscript volume by Sorina Jecza)
