Ana Maria Goilav
Co-Founder / Owner at Arheia, Co-Founder / Partner at Şcoala de la Buneşti, Works at Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism | Romania
Ana Maria Goilav is a Romanian practicing architect and researcher, specializing in ecclesial and sustainable architecture. She is an associate professor at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest, where she teaches architectural planning.
Together with historian Petre Guran, she co-founded in 2008 Școala de la Bunești [the Bunești School], an educational initiative that experiments with traditional building techniques, ecological architecture, and sustainable rural development (www.bunesti.ro). The program brings together students, craftsmen, and scholars to explore architecture rooted in local cultural landscapes. The project was awarded the Grand Prize Philippe Rotthier 2024.
Goilav has authored scientific articles in national and international magazines and is known for combining academic research with experimental architectural practice. She earned a PhD in 2011 with a thesis on early Christian sacred architecture titled The Central Sanctuary in Early Christianity: A Hierotopical Investigation, exploring the historical and spiritual dimensions of church architecture and the relationship between space, ritual, and community. She is an Alumna of the New Europe College and the Accademia di Romania in Rome.
Additionally, she has served as vice-president of the Order of Romanian Architects – Bucharest (2014-2022), as director of the opinion magazine A&B – The Architects and Bucharest (2014-2018), as well as being a co-founder of Arheia (2020), a project of classical education for pupils with ages between 6 and 18 years.
Her work focuses on architectural education, historical craftsmanship, ecological building methods, and the cultural meaning of built space in contemporary society.
Buneşti School
Church of St. Maximus the Confessor
Church of the Psychiatry Hospital in Voila
