Biological Research Platform_ Bicaz Lake, Romania

The proposal consists of a biological research platform on the water surface. Such an intervention may draw benefits from its direct contact with the environment it investigates, by including a mix of educational spaces and laboratory research, together with public spaces accessible to tourists or visitors with a particular interest in the field.

The choice of our programme and, implicitly, of the methods of its putting into practice is due to our special interest in the influence of nature upon the architecture, but also in the innovative technologies that have a strong impact on the environment. 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, conducting awareness campaigns and in situ experimentations. 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.