The History of the Construction Works

Constructions, starting from the first man-made shelters, continuing with the first organized settlements and the means of transport between them, with fortresses and fairs, monuments and palaces, and ending with the construction works of modern times, they have all supported and marked the human civilization. First, it was the builder master, then the architect appeared, integrating both the knowledge needed for the construction's functionality and esthetics and the safety and durability. Then, when the scale and complexity of the constructions imposed the division of this integrated profession, construction engineering, responsible for safety and durability, but also for the establishment and application of building technologies, separated from architecture. The emergence and development of human settlements have always been influenced, favored, or restricted by the natural conditions and resources of the territory. Soil conditions, climate actions (e.g., wind, snow) and seismicity remained decisive factors in the development of the construction techniques. Constructions in Romania have developed largely in line with the general scheme described above. There was the Stone Age, then the Bronze Age, leaving traces of specific construction, then a Dacian civilization with remarkable achievements, followed by the Roman conquest and integration, with urban development and transport infrastructure at the level of the other provinces of the empire. After the withdrawal of the Roman administration from Dacia, a transition period followed, with numerous migration periods (invasions), during which it collapsed rather than developed. Then followed the early Middle Ages and the consolidation of medieval structures/states (the establishment of Romanian Voivodes), the Late Middle Ages, the Phanariot Rule and Ottoman vassalage in Moldavia and Wallachia, and Hungarian Rule in Transylvania. The modern Romania was marked primarily by the Unification of The Romanian Principalities and the introduction of the Austro-Hungarian administration in Transylvania, followed by the independence and the establishment of the Kingdom of Romania. The World War I followed, then the Greater Romania (after the union with Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina) and the interwar period, the World War II and the period of the communist regime, which started in December 1947. The collapse of the communist regime in December 1989 brought about major changes in all areas of economic and social life, and implicitly in the field of constructions. Constructions followed and characterized these historical periods, each with its particularities (aesthetics, technology, functionality). After the Roman period, starting from the early Middle Ages and ending in the first half of the 19th century, constructions in Romania were made on an empirical and intuitive basis rather than on professional and scientific education. There are two important moments here in the promotion and development of this profession in Romania. The first, on 15 November 1813, when a class of engineering and terrestrial measurements in Romanian language is being established at the Royal Academy in Iasi. It is actually the first high school for construction and geodesy in our country. The second moment is the establishment in Bucharest, in 1864, of the School of Bridges and Roads, Mines and Architecture, according to the French model. Three years later, in 1867, it turns into the School of Bridges, Roads and Mines, which becomes the National School of Bridges and Roads in 1888. This is indeed the first institution of higher education for construction engineers, which in the sense of that time was attributed to civil engineering. Following the Unification of the Romanian Principalities, Romanian cities are undergoing a vast process of modernization. The development and organization of urban infrastructure has also been envisaged through the development and modernization of public lighting, sewage system, and means of transport. The period between WWI and WWII has meant for Romania a period of remarkable economic, cultural, and spiritual progress, with significant achievements in the urban and transport infrastructure. Then, in the period 1948–1989, in Romania was built very much, perhaps not always justified and where it should have been. However, it should be said that, in the field of civil engineering and, in particular, in structural engineering, these structures tested the professional competence of the engineers who designed and executed them. The construction sector experienced a general decline in the early 1990s, then started to grow between the years 2005–2008, being one of the pillars of Romania's economic growth. After significant stagnation between 2009–2012, the construction sector started to grow again, with a very good year 2015, especially due to the residential construction sector. The non-residential construction sector saw lower growth rates. The achievements were however remarkable, as many of these constructions are comparable to similar constructions built in Europe and around the world. The history of construction is ultimately an image of the cultural, social, economic, and technological development of a society. This chapter tried to reflect this complexity and multidisciplinarity of the profession.