Social Fabric - Casa Jakab Toffler Community Garden

The Jakab Toffler House Association is an initiative of the tenants of the homonymous building located on Strada Constantin Titel Petrescu no. 4, from Timișoara, established with the aim of generating new forms of social interaction between the current tenants of the building, in a direct relationship with the concept of housing - from its physical dimension to the symbolic one. In addition to stimulating interaction with the living space, the urban and cultural landscape, the association aims, sustainably and with care for the natural and built environment, to boost social dynamics, belonging to the neighborhood, strengthening relations between micro communities and those of the neighborhood. The Jakab Toffler House promotes the identity of each person in the community as part of an urban ecosystem, the removal of cultural, racial, ethnic, religious or sexual discrimination, promotes multi-ethnic and cultural exchange and the valorization of the material and immaterial heritage of the Fabric neighborhood.

The Garden of the Jakab Toffler House is a community melting pot, a place where the residents of the building on C.T. Petrescu Street no. 4 gather around family activities, along with friends and acquaintances, as well as around administrative activities. With the establishment of the Jakab Toffler House association, the first cultural projects aimed to strengthen these functions and improve the existing urban furniture, along with adding new elements (projection screen, compost bin, garden furniture, cooking oven, CoLiza 2.0, Typogarden/Typopassage micro museum, etc.). Under the program titled "Social Fabric" (three editions), the garden was transformed from a private space into a public one, open to neighborhood residents and the general public. Referring to the social fabric of the neighborhood in which the building is located, this program proposed a series of actions derived from the experience of daily living, specific needs, and common rituals. From an urban planning perspective, they tested and implemented housing solutions that started in reverse of traditional planning, through direct organization, the need to improve communal life, and the consolidation of local identity. Thus, the garden of the house became an organic kit for urban activation, a form through which the common territory is populated by the energy of the residents and the artistic and research residencies within the Jakab Toffler House, considering the multicultural character of the house and its social disparities. These residencies proposed collaborative processes and medium to large-scale events, situated at the intersection of community activation, architecture, and participatory art, including presentations, debates, gardening workshops, gastronomy, art, theater and documentary film evenings, concerts and exhibitions, the editing of the "Vocile Fabricului" newspaper, organizing an amateur football championship, and more. The continuous improvement of the Jakab Toffler House garden would not have been possible without the architectural practice carried out between 2022-2024 by first-year students of FAUT UPT, coordinated by architect Bogdan Isopescu, which allowed for the consolidation of private and public spaces, solidarity, and the implementation of new forms of conviviality or various exchanges of goods and ideas. The projects that emerged in the garden of the house materialized through actions that valued the material heritage, but especially the existing human component.