Novelty AE is a design services team of specialists, fulfilling the roles of General Designer and Architectural Designer. Through the partnerships we have developed, we provide services covering all specialties and all design phases required for a project, emphasising it with additional creativity.
Our experience gathers projects from two continents and reference countries such as Austria, Germany, Algeria, as well as recognition in the World Architecture Festival.
For more than 10 years, we have been developing projects for public and private beneficiaries, gaining experience in non-reimbursable funds investments with an average investment value of 5 million euros.

We stand for reliability, integrity, perseverance, and creativity.
We stand for our experiences as professionals and, last but not least, as people.

Founder
Alexandru Palcau
I was born in 1987, in the old central area of Constanta, where I spent my childhood, raised by my grandparents, from the age of 3. They inspired me the values that guide me in my life: I took from my grandmother the strength of character, determination, ambition, and the belief that anything that is not done well is just a wasted effort and wasted time, and from my grandfather I took the manly dignity, empathy, entrepreneurship, fairness and the way I treat others.
I firmly believe that exceptional results only come from commitment, a lot of study and lots and lots of hard work. Experience never diminishes the work, but makes the effort easier and gives your goals more clarity. And if you add passion for what you do, there is no goal that cannot be achieved.
I attended junior and middle school at Mihail Koiciu School and high school at Tomis Technical College – mathematics & computer science specialization. I have always had an affinity for the exact sciences, especially mathematics and physics, being an Olympian in mathematics in middle school.
My entrepreneurial drive manifested itself from an early age, out of the desire for independence, through small, age-appropriate business ventures. Thanks to my reliability and my passion for figures, during the summer holidays, I kept the books of some stalls in Mamaia. In contrast to what I knew about myself at that time, I discovered an artistic side which, also from an entrepreneurial drive, I exploited by making temporary tattoos for tourists.
When I was 13, my grandparents bought me my first PC and I was fascinated by the practical side of it. I learnt COREL, and in my spare time I used to deal with permit documentation for illuminated signs and awnings. I worked as a small "subcontractor" for my cousin's design office. During high school, at the age of 15, I got a part-time job in his office, spending the second half of the day there, after school hours.
I loved what I was doing and wanted to get more involved. So, I started working on the permits application files and obtaining them from the authorities, afterwards I drew the PUD plans and later - after learning the basics of 3DS Max - I worked on the sunlight admission studies. My hunger for knowledge and passion for what I was doing pushed me to study architecture relentlessly, reading everything I could find about it. I learnt Nemetschek Allplan, with which I started to draw up the drawings for projects of interior conversions of flats and, later, of single-family houses. I loved it and every hour spent in the office, whether day or night, was a joy. From that moment on, I felt I had found my vocation and saw my future very clearly.
At the age of 19, I came to Bucharest to attend the Spiru Haret Faculty of Architecture. During my studies, I worked at 3 totally different in terms of vision architecture offices. The first experience was that of a small individual office, where I worked together with the architect on very small projects: family houses, demolitions, and minor interventions. Looking for bigger challenges, I left the small office and joined a multinational. This is where I learned the meaning of thoroughness and organisation in the design process. I was working on one project at a time and the demands were high. I was fascinated by how many things I was learning, and this made me spend not only my days at the office, but also my nights.
When the opportunity for a higher income arose, I took it and ended up in an office totally opposite to my previous experiences. Here I understood what workload meant and that working on several projects at the same time didn't offer much scope for organisation. Although I was not working for maximum quality, but to develop as many projects as possible, I was still spending all my time at the office, the main motivation being the adrenaline of working against the clock and the scale of the projects I was working on - residential complexes with hundreds of apartments, hotels, industrial parks, retail. Later, I understood that I was training for time management skills.
Around the age of 22, a new goal was already taking shape (probably also due to the ingenuity of age and its characteristic enthusiasm): the desire to do everything differently and to create my own freedom of expression. The conviction that I had something else to convey, that I could change the world for the better, pushed me at the age of 22 to abandon any form of comfort I had obtained until then, to quit my job, to quit university and to create my own vision through Youth Architecture and Design. And further on it's not about me anymore, it's about us...

Novelty AE in a nutshell
2009 - We were founded as Youth Architecture and Design and had one desire only: to do architecture, without knowing exactly what that meant. We designed the Moschino Boutique in Calea Dorobantilor, where every design detail was a challenge.
2010 - It was the start of the grant-funded projects. We understood what a funding guide means, the requirements and demands of the funder. In parallel, we continued to develop retail projects, developing the Cielle interior design project in Baneasa Shopping City.
The design of the Goniometric Vessel Positioning System off the Black Sea shore pushed our limits and placed the project, at that time, at the top of our technologically challenging projects.
2011 - We continued to be involved in grant funded projects and developed, from feasibility to acceptance on completion, the Lumina Youth Centre, the Corbu Youth Centre and the Park in Eforie Sud, Casino area.
2012 - This was the year when we could no longer cope with the demand, a year in which we were involved in more projects than we had the capacity to carry out. We worked in retail projects (Brunello Cucinelli in Calea Dorobantilor), we expanded our expertise by developing tourism projects (Apart-hotel Wave Mamaia and Predeal Resort), we developed new facilities financed by European funds at Hotel Fortuna Eforie-Nord. In the HORECA sector we designed a Bavarian restaurant, located in Bucharest. At the same time, we have set out to experiment projects beyond the borders of Romania, developing the concept of a horse-riding Stable near Paris.
2013 - Having the experience of the past 3 years, we went through a re-inventing process, under the name Novelty AE. We invested in the company's infrastructure and developed a long-term investment strategy with a much clearer vision and mission, but under the same umbrella with which we started out - quality. The year also brought opportunities to expand our business to another continent - Africa, along with the legal and linguistic challenges: we developed residential and office projects in Algeria, in the cities of Algiers, Oran and Medea.
In the same year, in partnership with the Delta ACM contractor, a residential complex with 6 D+P+4E apartment-buildings was built in Bucharest, Postalionului street.
2014 - The year in which we expanded our partnerships, this time with the SetConstruct contractor, along with who the waterfront of Lake Siutghiol was shaped into a landmark of Constanta county - WhitePark in Ovidiu. Simultaneously, we have studied the feasibility of expanding the Ceronav training base - a centre with a training pool, classrooms, and simulators, as well as accommodation facilities, on the shore of Lake Siutghiol.
Projects in Algeria continued with all phases of design for a 106 social apartment-buildings, totalling 2060 apartments, in El-Bayadh and with another 680 apartments in Tebessa, as well as a P+10E apartment complex in Constantine.
In Austria, we developed our project optimisation skills by designing the housing portfolio for a prefabricated house manufacturer.
2015 - It was the year in which, 5 years after our establishment, we received international recognition, being nominated in the finals of the World Architecture Festival Singapore, with 2 projects. Our projects were selected out of 700 entries from 52 countries. Legacy - AquaPark in Baile Figa and Skyline - extension of Ceronav training base on the shores of Lake Siutghiol were in the World Top 6 Projects.
In the same year we joined a partnership with Aqua Azur - a contractor specialized in the construction of water leisure facilities - and Polin Waterparks - Europe's largest manufacturer of water park equipment and facilities. From this partnership, Aquatica Experience was born, which aimed to develop waterparks from idea to commissioning and exploitation.
2016 - Novelty creates its identity and specializes in a poorly developed sector in Romania, namely water parks. This year Drop AquaPark - Nasaud, Reed AquaPark - Ideciu, Gaia SPA - Baia-Mare were developed. We went further by holding conferences to promote and encourage investments in this sector.
Our area of expertise has expanded through our involvement in rediscovering the values of our country. The urban revitalization and enhancement of tourist attractions in the Singeorz-Bai resort - a project financed by European funds - was the lesson of the natural wealth we have, but which is constantly forgotten. Other European funded projects have been developed in the tourism sector, urban infrastructure and HORECA.
2017 - We upgraded the Corbeni 30 Hotel, located in Bucharest - for the Menachem H.Elias Family Foundation - Romanian Academy, a building having a basement and retracted 8th floor, spread over about 6000sqm. On the beach of Eforie Nord, we developed the SunSet Condominium project - a collective housing building, being also involved in the creation of advertising materials for the developer's website.
However, the year was marked by the design and construction of the ZYLINDERHAUS car museum in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. The investment of about 17 million euro, built in partnership with Delta ACM, was a challenge in terms of the collaboration with local architects and the execution of the prefabricated elements of the construction, carried out with both Romanian and local partners. The challenges of integrating typical Wilhelmine architectural style, the era of German national heritage, brought us clarity in approaching projects based on a society's historical-cultural values.
2018 - The topic of the year was shaped around the issues of macro-micro perspectives and time management.
The Masterplan of the Eastern Green Area of Cluj gave us an overview of things, where on 52 ha we combined a natural urban park with a leisure park, an AquaPark and a sports base.
Subsequently, we studied and developed the feasibility of an aquatic universe estimated at 56 million euro within ParQuarium Cluj - an indoor and outdoor aquapark of about 4 ha, with another 3 ha of parking.
Designing, securing funding, and permitting the rehabilitation of the M. Eminescu Elementary School, a 6000 sqm historical monument in Nasaud, was a challenge almost impossible to achieve without the constant and total involvement of the design team. Despite the extremely tight deadline for obtaining funding, the impossible became possible - which earned us the beneficiary's appreciation in "The fastest project ever made."
2019 - The year we understood that a clear and shared vision is important in long-term partnerships. We chose to end our partnership with Aqua Azur and implicitly, to leave Aquatica Experience and to work only with Polin Waterpaks.
The year was further defined by the development of non-reimbursable funded projects in the aquatic and spa sector: AquaPark in Uricani and the Multifunctional Centre in Baile Turda - defined by the specific natural environment we had to work with.
2020 - Our experience in the balneoclimatic sector is expressed through the EWA Spa Centre in Covasna - a project financed by CNI (National Investments Company) and located in a high-value natural context that required integration and care.
Next, in partnership with SetConstruct, we designed and executed the reconversion of some degraded sites in the town of Eforie, implying the development of 5 parks of various sizes - which became focal points for the community or support and diversity for the existing ones.
The fire prevention and extinguishment polygon and helideck simulator project located in Constanta has sustained the research activity in atypical facilities that are highly regulated in other European countries.
2021 - We continued to develop urban revitalization projects, obtaining funding for the apartment-buildings neighbourhood in Nasaud. Once again, we had the opportunity to discover, understand and remind the local community of its cultural-historical values and, implicitly, the values of our country.
We also extended our expertise in the medical sector, developing the extension and refurbishment project of the Dr Barbu Oral Rehabilitation Clinic, Bucharest.
2022 - In partnership with the General Contractor SetConstruct, we designed and started the execution of the 2S+P+4E building on the shore of Lake Siutghiol in Constanta which will develop the existing training base with a pool with OPITO simulators, classrooms, and accommodation, spread over approximately 6000 sqm.
NOVELTY AE continues!☺

Vision
We spend at least a third of our adult lives doing architecture. We can only achieve excellence if we love what we do, in a place where we have all the support we need, with people of the appropriate character and who share the same values.

Mision
Through our chosen profession, we want an avant-garde in the quality of life and the cultural level that we enjoy. We make the goals of our clients possible, without forgetting the environment and the other participants, in turn - actors or spectators on society's stage.
We resonate deeply and fundamentally with the vision of the Council of the European Union that architecture and the built environment are the foundation of cultural heritage for the future and shape the identity of a society.
In this context, we have a responsibility to which we have made an unwavering commitment: progress - as the basis of a balanced society that knows how to differentiate itself through its values.

Principles
• If the investment is aesthetically pleasing, but very expensive and with a very long completion time, it is just a failure in terms of design.
• Deadline is important. Create the maximum in accordance with the time available.
• We start from examples of good practice, analyse and identify, through our experience, what we can improve to meet our mission.
• Beautiful or spectacular does not always mean expensive.
• The quality of life is essentially determined by the cultural level of a community. An aesthetically harmonious built environment does not lose sight of this.
• Right is never enough. Sufficient is never an option in terms of development.
• A building without context is like a fashion show without clothes.
• People add value to the team and not the other way around.
• Be passionate in what you do and the benefits will come.
• Any goal or challenge is solved one step at a time.
• It's never about the architect, it's always about the project.
• A building that only serves the purpose is just a footprint of an unintended goal. A building with identity understands the goal and tells its story.
• Learn the rules like a professional to break them like an artist. - Pablo Picasso

What the future looks like for us
The future is development, it is challenge, it is progress, it is respect and above all, devotion.
In the future we will be the same - with the same clarity in our vision and mission, but with even more experience.
In the future we will be the same - serving ourselves, people, and our continuing development nature.