73 – AA1111 – arch. Ambra Fabi, arch. Simona Dirvariu, arch. Carole Lenoble

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MAIN AUTHOR: arch. Ambra Fabi

CO-AUTHORS: arch. Simona Dirvariu, arch. Ambra Fabi, arch. Carole Lenoble

Piața Universității is located near to the crossroad of two main streets of Bucharest, in proximity of the Ground Zero of Romania. This « largo » of the Regina Elisabeta Boulevard is part of a series of dismembered empty spaces, without any visibility, thought out, in a first time, at a monumental scale, and in a second time, at the automobile scale. Pedestrians hardly find their place, or find their way, walking through cars, kiosks, and varied small facilities congesting the sidewalks. But Piața Universității is at the same time a central place full of life, and that makes its potential.

Our project consists in redefining public spaces on a human scale by dividing monumental space and giving lisibility and meaning to the series of different public spaces in order to take over the surrounding confusion. In no case, we consider ourselves to be démiurge architects who would like to draw and control everything. We won’t solve, case by case, the different constraints linked to the car park exits, subway exits, bus stops, and so on, but we look for redefining boundaries, urban filters and clearing links between all those different places. We will work on the particular threshold and caracther of each simple space. Access ramps, kiosks, chimneys, and so on are included in those different and clarified places, like urban objects, in continuity with the city. A clear public space wich works in its urban context, has the capacity to integrate heterogeneous objects, existing everywhere in our cities, by passing them in the background.

The Largo is the entrance door for the old center of the city : from the university neighbourhood or from the different cultural facilities (theaters, museums…), but it is also a vertical entrance door (car park, subway…). Our project lies on working on these different public spaces, considering them as series of different passing areas leading to the town center, or allowing to go out of it. We will mainly work on the ground (mouvement, materials) and the  relation to the sky, (light columns, trees), to create different “void density” and different relations between scales.

The first public space is the space of the boulevard, roadway and sidewalk, place of speedness and large scale with subway exits, bus stops, kiosks…. Its ground treatment, relatively homogeneous, allows us to consider this part of the boulevard, as a unitary space, and not as an urban motorway, cutting the space in two parts. All the existing éléments, corresponding to the usual facilities that one finds along the streets, will be maintained, and reorganized if needed (bus stops, kiosks, booksellers…)

The second space is an hybrid space, neither a sidewalk, nor a square: a Largo. It can be considered as a void, a sas between the busy town and the historical centre. A place for a break, or even contemplation, with the town on the background, a space released from all the constraints and visual pollution. Its ground will be white and smooth like three of the statues. This space will articulate the other spaces and will be framed by different kind of limits, different kind of thresholds more or less thick. On the north side, the light columns will contour this space along the boulevard, recalling University front wall’s rhythm. On the east side, the filter with the crossroad will be made of light columns alterned by trees, in the continuity of the History Museum of the city of Bucharest. In the same way, on the west side, will be found lines of light columns alterned with trees in the continuity of the existing trees lines of the sidewalks.

Contrasting with the white void, the third space is the one of the hemicycle, a densified void. The density of light columns and trees will increase, recalling the tight rhythm of the old centre’s facades and the pedestrians density. The ground, made of cobble stones (like the rest of the old city) will slightly twist to dialogue with the human shape. This space can receive different events : market, children playgrounds, small shows….

The fourth space is strada Toma Caragiu linked with the russian Church, where the density of trees will be increased and the car traffic will be the most reduced, allowing the café terraces to expand.

Vegetation will always be implanted in continuity with the existing one, and trees will be set up where their roots have access to the ground soil. The trees will not be implanted over the car park or the subway line, this would be too expensive and would give them little chance to survive.

Trees, lights and ground will be the elements that will give a human face to the city and a sense to the memory of the urban form.