Nature of Order Webinar: Geometry and Emotion: A case study of unfolding ornament in modernist architecture, Ioana Barac
This session will be on Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 16:00 UTC. Write to natureoforder@buildingbeauty.org to be included.
The lecture will introduce the understanding of ornament as the geometrically structured visual language of energy and life. We will follow the making of the Slover Library ornament from concept to installation, a project approached and developed by the design team as the triad city-building-ornament. This renovation-and-addition project is a unique example of contemporary ornamented architecture that meets Alexander’s criteria: it is new and dramatic, while rooted in the traditional practices. The presentation will focus on the unfolding of the atrium ceiling, a process that combined current technologies and the handmade.
The Slover Library in Norfolk, VA , design team: Newman Architects; Urban Design Workshop; Bloomerstudio.
Overview of the architectural project from the Architect’s portfolio:
Ioana Barac is principal at Atelier Cue, an architectural art and place-making studio based in New Haven, CT. Ioana has taught at University of Hartford since 2015, from design studios and graduate thesis advising to ornament-focused seminars.
Ioana started her studies in Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, Romania, and completed them in the U.S. She has a B.Sc. from University of Hartford and a Master of Architecture from Yale University, where she received the Moulton Andrus Award for Excellence in Art and Architecture.
Prior to Atelier Cue, Ioana has worked for over a decade as principal design associate at Bloomerstudio in New Haven, CT, leading and collaborating on national and local projects of architectural ornament and public art, and as senior designer at OakPark Architects, on institutional and commercial projects.
Ioana is a member of the Romanian Artist Connection and of the Architecture is Free Foundation.
