BIOGRAPHY
CATALIN DRAGOMIR

Widely considered a pre-eminent architect of the 21st century, CATALIN DRAGOMIR was born and educated in Romania, before moving to London, where under the influence of Peter Cook, he finalised his architectural studies.

In the early 80’s, Catalin was involved in the Romanian Art Scene. Mainly in painting and fashion design. After his art exhibition in 1984, in Bucharest, Catalin has realised that his true calling was Architecture. In between 1984 and 1987, Catalin has embarked into a very original project, called “Nemesis”. This study reflects the inner torment of his transition from being a painter/sculptor to being an architect. One of the most striking features of Catalin’s architectural beginnings is the rapid evolution of his sculptural approach.

1988. Now a 2nd year student at “Ion Mincu”, Catalin has exhibited his “Nemesis”, a collection of 21 soul searching architectural paintings. That exhibition, has established Catalin as a pre-eminent figure in the Romanian architectural society.

1990. His architectural poetry landed him with the possibility of studying under Peter Cook and his guests Zaha Hadid, Daniel Liberskind and Lebbeus Woods at “The Bartlett”. In comparing his works dated 1985-1986 to the ones of the period 1990-1994, Peter Cook has noticed a substantial transformation of his imagination, a maximum understanding of the interplay between light and shade, a deep philosophical statement of his complex architectural projects. Zaha has noticed in some case, that the musical rhythm is contrapuntal, when the zig-zag of one volume, forms a sharp angle with the internal functions. This was no wonder, since Catalin was haunted at the time by the idea of Chaos. The link between the “Chaos Theory” and architecture, was an early indication of his maturity as an architect.