Andrei Lefter, founder and managing partner of DRS-Architects, spoke to the Romanian trade publication Arhispec about how the studio combines technical design expertise with a background in architectural visualisation and emerging technologies, a mix that came out of the merger of the two practices behind DRS-Architects. The conversation covers the challenges specific to each building type — visitor flows and flexible layouts in retail, comfort and privacy in residential work, and the balance between hospitality and operational efficiency in hotels.
Sustainability is a central theme, treated not as a technical add-on at the end of the process but as a design decision taken from the first sketches: passive strategies, honest material choices, and spaces that can be reconfigured over time. A recently completed student housing project certified BREEAM Outstanding is cited as an example. Andrei Lefter also discusses photorealistic rendering and virtual reality as tools for validating design decisions, the lessons learned from projects such as the refurbishment of the British Council building and the Tuzla Airport Hotel, and the three directions he expects to shape Romanian architecture over the next decade: sustainability, spatial flexibility, and the integration of artificial intelligence into the design process.
The full interview is available on Arhispec.ro.
Source: Arhispec.ro, 8 April 2025Original title (in Romanian): „Cred într-o arhitectură care rezolvă nevoi reale, dar care are și puterea de a genera dialog, emoție și identitate.” – Andrei Lefter, DRS-Architects
