Bathing Place on Lake Tineretului

The bathing place in Sovata was realized as part of a tourism infrastructure development. The project is solving major issues such as: - limiting the amount of sweet water and alluvium that reaches the thermally stratified Lake Ursu, - relieving the crowded Lake Ursu of the high number of tourist. Located on a higher altitude than the lakes in Sovata, Lake Tineretului existed until the 90 s. It had an important role in taking over the meteoric water and the alluvium, which otherwise would have reached the lakes on lower altitude. In 2007, the newly formed Lake Tineretului eliminated the thermal stratification disturbance in Lake Ursu, and furthermore created a new bathing place for approximately 500 guests.

The challenge in this project lies in finding proper architectural answers for an intervention in a nearly untouched landscape. The concept of the bathing facility is following the rules of the surroundings, which from the point of view of urban interventions are rather antirules. Ordinary but vital, these composition rules are: the lack of straight angles and parallel lines large horizontal surfaces the superposition and mixture of various layers and volumes in a natural, organic way.

In a natural environment, contingent and accentuated elements are rare, there everything is approaching balance. The surrounding natural environment allowed us to create this tectonic, folded shape inspired from nature. Cartesian elements come up only at functional requirements and at a rational control of space and structure (wooden piles and beams). Tourists arriving from the valley meet a sign and a transition space, which leads towards the bathing area placed on the barrage. The radial composition, the dynamics of the roof, the tectonic lines and the regularity of the veneering altogether form a well-defined whole.