Romania already has several research and monitoring stations working in the field of biodiversity, with a special interest in natural ressources. Their goal is to keep under a close watch the quality of environmental factors and to take protective measures regarding the maintenance and the improvement of these factors.
The choice of the programme and its methods is due to a special interest in the influence of nature upon the arhictecture and in innovative environmental technologies.
The project will rely greatly on energy from renewable sources, trying to identify a set of environmental factors that can be integrated in the functioning of the facility. Several examples of such factors are the water currents, the waves, the water level variations from one season to another, the water luminosity, thermic frost regimes, physical and chemical variables, and even the phytoplankton. The construction shall be conceived as a floating organism, in an attempts to mirror the research activity in the architectural object.
The proposal aims at reconfiguring the existing research site and station, through a direct involvement of the concerned public. On the water surface lie two ensembles, on the two shores or the sit. One of them is dedicated to the research area, the other is for touristic and leisure activities. The scientific research studies grow together with educational and leisure activities available to the public in order to achieve a collective awareness of environmental problems and their possible solutions.
The proposal aims to reconfigure the existing research station on the same site.
The form finding process starts with the existing simple boat houses and ends with very modest but up-to-date wooden structures with an extremely clear and yet sophisticated exterior skin.
On one side of the peninsula is the research platform, on the opposite side a similar building for tourist and leisure activities, the goal being that of combining the two activities in order to achieve a collective awareness of environmental problems and their possible solutions.
One great benefit of placing the buildings in the water is that of keeping the landscape relatively free and untouched by invasive building activities.
This project is awarded with the EAAE Prize for Intensity and Courage in Problem Solving.
