106 – MA1100 – MANOPERA ARCHITECTURE SRL
Main Authors: Romeo Cuc, Raluca Sabău, Mădălina Olaru, Alexandra Damian, Vlad Afrasiabi, Larisa Latiș, Kinga Farcas, Denisa Boroica, Leonid Secher, Matei Dumitru
Specialty collaborator: landscape architect Răzvan Bordeianu
“The requirements of the brief are mostly met, and the newly created elements follow the ensemble’s logic. The two generous and distinctively defined subareas, together with the direct connection between them, were appreciated as a clear and sensitive gesture marking new focal points within the urban landscape.
However, the scale of the newly defined square is excessive: it is largely paved, while a significantly greater amount of green space would be needed. Although the circular groves are well-conceived in principle, they appear insufficient in this context. Additionally, the design does not adequately respond to the natural topography of the site. The design of Unirii Promenade is schematic, with a lack of furniture, vegetation or other interventions facilitating social interactions. The concept remains focused on outlining grand spaces and promenades, but it falls short of addressing the ecological and social needs of the area in a meaningful way.” – appreciation of the Jury.
URBAN CONFLUENCES
Restoring urban, ecological and social continuities in the centre of Tulcea
General concept
Urban Confluences proposes a coherent and natural regeneration of Tulcea’s city centre, a space with a complex identity, where historical traces, socialist-era interventions, and natural resources coexist in a fragile balance.
Tulcea is approached as an urban palimpsest, a layered territory where eras, morphologies, and modes of habitation and use are superimposed. The project does not erase these traces, but rather values and reactivates them. Confluence thus becomes the key to interpretation: between old and new, built and natural, diverse communities and shared public space.
The intervention aims to reconnect the civic centre to the Danube, to historic neighborhoods, and to the communities that define it, through a subtle urban gesture, rooted in context and open to future evolution.
Guiding principles
Universal accessibility: Public space is reimagined as an open infrastructure, accessible to all ages and mobilities. Pathways are clarified, pavements, textures, and tactile markings are coherently integrated, and street profiles are adjusted in favour of pedestrians.
Functional versatility: The resulting space does not impose rigid functions but allows for a variety of daily uses (meeting, resting, crossing, community activation) in a calm and natural atmosphere.
Spatial and emotional continuity
The project seeks to restore functional, visual and pedestrian connections, as well as emotional ties, for visual, and pedestrian connections, as well as emotional ties for a centre that becomes lively, coherent, and recognizable once again.
Discreet yet essential intervention
Reactivating the pedestrian axis from Mircea cel Bătrân Square – Unirii Street – Trei Fântâni Area – to the Waterfront becomes the central gesture that structures and rebalances the entire ensemble.
Identity and poetic integration
Mircea cel Bătrân Square is redefined as a square-shaped space, structured planimetrically and rhythmically shaded by a row of proposed trees. A discreet memorial system, made up of custom-designed manhole covers, evokes the 16 historic neighbourhoods of the city, a subtle intervention that restores the link to the deep urban identity of the site.
Unirii Street is transformed into a pedestrian boulevard of connection, a meeting space between historic districts and the contemporary centre, between past and present. An active, civic, and commercial promenade is created, marking the access to the surrounding protected areas.
Trei Fântâni Area is reimagined as an urban garden in transition – a dense green space, an “urban forest” between city and Danube, between mineral and vegetal. A filtering space where nature reclaims its place in the urban fabric.
Memory of the place
A few discreet gestures reactivate the layered memory of Tulcea’s centre: a strip of cobblestone marks the trace of a lost historic path crossing Unirii Street through two socialist-era passages, while the civic square’s pavement reinterprets the socialist grid in the new register of “urban glade”. The identity elements of the site are articulated across three key spaces: engraved gutter covers referencing the 16 historic slums, a paved map in the Trei Fântâni area, and a bronze city model in front of City Hall.
Functional and accessibility concept
The functional scheme is structured around a central spine that articulates various urban routes and connections. This organizing axis acts as both a connector and a catalyst, encouraging fluid movement across a diversity of spaces. The configuration promotes permeability, orientation, and continuity, while ensuring inclusive accessibility across the entire surface at a unified walking level. It supports both spontaneous exploration and structured flows, enhancing the quality and legibility of the urban experience.
Planting strategy
The preservation of existing vegetation becomes a guiding principle in both the spatial and functional articulation of the site. The proposed plantings are designed to enhance and differentiate the sequence of public space typologies: the definition of the central public square, shaded secondary plazas, an urban forest surrounding a playground, the linear pedestrian corridor along Unirii Street, and a natural forest patch in the Trei Fântâni area. The selected species are intended to balance the vertical layering of vegetation, withstand the constraints of the urban environment, and mitigate unpleasant sensory experiences. They help reduce the urban heat island effect, improve soil structure, and enhance local microclimatic conditions, while ensuring year-round decorative value.
The existing vegetation is integrated into the proposal as a coherent ensemble, comprising both a historical layer and a significant urban landmark rooted in the collective memory of the community. In line with the nature of the intervention, the decision was made to preserve and enhance the current vegetation. To this end, the project also includes the transplantation of certain shrubs (Js, Pxf, Ch, Jh, Pc), resulting from the spatial reconfiguration.
This approach aims to capitalize on specimens already adapted to the local microclimate and to complete the existing plant compositions. Vegetated planting beds surrounding preserved trees provide optimal growing conditions while establishing a protective buffer zone.
A balanced planting scheme is proposed, bringing shade, rhythm, biodiversity, and seasonality. The typological diversity (alignments, squares, filtering gardens) contributes to an active urban ecology.
The proposed planting seeks to mark a new phase in the redevelopment of the square, enabling the development of diverse relationships among the pre-existing ecosystems. It also contributes to supporting biodiversity by providing food and shelter for local fauna, thereby aiding in the conservation of habitats—particularly in the area of Trei Fântâni, where the conditions for a functional ecosystem are emerging.
For roadside alignments and embankments, low-growing shrub species are proposed, with the dual aim of minimizing water evaporation and facilitating efficient maintenance.
Surface water management
Considering the intent to establish pedestrian connectivity between the three spaces and the riverfront, surface water management is based on the alternation of mineral pavements with varying permeability:
- high-permeability pavements are proposed in the square, along the Unirii Street corridors, and Trei Fântâni area
- low-permeability pavements are used in the remaining perimeter zones. These surfaces are organized around planted green areas, raingardens and trees with protective grates. Additionally, linear drainage channels are provided to collect excess stormwater.
The water features along the entire site integrating naturally into the pedestrian flow. These interventions help reduce urban heat islands and regulate the microclimate.
