Tineretului Agora. Rehabilitation and extension of the former Kiseleff Strand

Authors’ Comment

The aim of the present project is the requalification of a part of the urban fabric of Bucharest. This area holds a place in the collective memory and stands as an archetype of the interwar leisure spaces, considering the fact that since the first organization of the plot in 1928, it maintained its original purpose - as a public pool. The first proposal designed by Marcel Iancu, a distinguished modernist Romanian figure, envisioned a large enclosure centered around the complex's leitmotif: the swimming pool.
The concept operates at an urban scale, intending to restore the value of this section of the urban fabric, which has become a residual space, insensitive to its historical significance. Accordingly, the proposal involves the demolition of the parasitic elements that appeared in the late decades and moreover, were left uncomplete, and the reorganisation of the plot through simple architectural volumes that adhere to some principles evoked in the original plan.
Aiming to transcend the merely functional response typically dictated by such programmes the concept engages with the noble and elegant status once embodied by ancient gymnasia and palaestrae—the historical predecessors of modern sports halls. This return to origins determines the formal expression of the protected central space, illustrated by the large enclosure around which the other sporting functions emerge. Outside the defined enclosure, the unbuilt areas are structured into a sequence of components with varying roles, which collectively generate the overall coherence: the existing sports fields are reorganised as urban rooms linked by shaded squares and two main access points at either end, each marked by mineral honour plazas (one of which already exists), opening towards the city. The remaining open space becomes a generous urban garden emphasizing the seemingly random, organic character of vegetation.
What emerges is an architecture of movement and moments - an “agora” in the connotative sense of a public gathering space. To emphasise this central area, the motif of the peripheral portico is reiterated, exceeding exceeds the bare purpose of circulation and programmatic role, becoming rather an extension of the interior spaces - an outside foyer, terrace, or a serene shadowed pause.
On the other hand, as an emphasis of a rigorous "shell" is sustained by the accuracy of the structure, whose perfect rhythm is expressed both in the spatial organization and exterior image. This sincere skeleton adapts its characteristics to the interior zones, narrowing or enlarging according to the important programme elements —such as the sports hall, the indoor pool, and the entrance foyers. These principal areas express their relevance within the ensemble through scale and height. Their spatial significance is closely linked to their content, with the language and expression shaped by the nature of each specific place. There is an ongoing dialogue between function, structure, and materiality that distinguishes each spatial experience.
Thus, the proposal aims to be more than a conventional training facility: it seeks to be a place of the city and for the city, where the memories of Bucharest’s interwar leisure architecture are reinterpreted and re-experienced.