The Aquarium and the Marine Life Museum: Developing museum capacity in the context of the revitalization of Ovidiu square and Tomis Port

Authors’ Comment

The diploma project proposes the design of an Aquarium and Museum of Marine Life within a masterplan for the revitalization of the Tomis Touristic Harbor and Ovidiu Square in Constanța, where the Aquarium serves as the centerpiece of the ensemble.
The analysis of the evolutionary context highlights the presence of gaps within the square’s historical fronts at the end of the 20th century and the development of the harbor without a coherent planning framework, resulting in a visible fracture of the urban fabric between the two areas. Additionally, there is a topographic drop of approximately 16 m between the square and the harbor, which currently lacks proper spatial integration.
The architectural proposal intervenes at this fragmented inflection point to restore the urban connection, leveraging a series of major opportunities: extending the compositional axis generated by the Museum of History towards the harbour - which runs perpendicular to the square's historical axis (decumanus maximus), aligning with the cardo maximus direction -, outlining a cultural corridor between the square and the harbor, and capturing pedestrian flows originating from the square, the Casino, and the beach.
The proposed architectural ensemble is composed of four elements: the Aquarium, the Museum of Marine Life, the footbridge, and the accommodation facilities. Their volumetric logic is based on two main directions: the axis generated by the Museum of History - along which the accommodation volume and the footbridge unfold, and upon which the circular Aquarium is centered - and the axis perpendicular to the harbour's length, which generates the prismatic-triangular form of the proposed museum. The intervention responds to the site’s steep declivity through a cascading volumetry and a footbridge that extends the square’s elevation directly onto the Aquarium's terrace.
The building's architecture is intrinsically dictated by its core: a central cylindrical tank (23 m in diameter, 12 m in height), surrounded by a circular ramp and an outer ring of secondary aquariums. This ascending path offers an immersive experience that simulates rising to the surface following a deep dive. All other program spaces gravitate around this generative nucleus, defining the building's overall volumetry. The materiality of the Aquarium is defined by a series of ceramic tile "scales." Their dynamic interplay on the architectural facade simulates the shifting reflections of water. In contrast, the tectonics of certain walls are accentuated through natural stone cladding, using travertine to provide texture.
The project is grounded in three architectural precedents: Oceanografic Valencia (arch. Félix Candela, 2002), the generator of the immersive functional circuit; Mercedes-Benz Museum (arch. UNStudio, 2006), which inspires the exhibition path through interconnected spiral ramps; and Porto Cruise Terminal (arch. Luís Pedro Silva, 2015), a benchmark for organic integration into the marine landscape, from which the use of ceramic tiles as a unified finish that recreates water reflections is derived.