Balneotherapy Recovery Center: Cold Baths Pavilion No. 3, Techirghiol

Authors’ Comment

Balneotheray Recovery Center: Cold Baths Pavilion No. 3, Techirghiol
The project transforms the former Cold Baths Pavilion No. 3 into a balneary rehabilitation center combining treatment facilities, accommodation and spaces for relaxation, all developed in direct relationship with Lake Techirghiol. The centre draws on the resources that have shaped the identity of the resort: sapropelic mud, hypersaline water and the marine bioclimate, integrating them into a contemporary therapeutic experience for patients undergoing rehabilitation, as well as for visitors seeking prevention, movement and rest.

The programme brings together wet and dry treatments, including mud baths and body wraps, hydrotherapy, a physiotherapy pool, physiotherapy, massage, saunas and other recovery therapies. These are complemented by 36 accommodation rooms, waiting and relaxation spaces, a restaurant, café, and outdoor areas facing the lake. Rather than a sequence of isolated medical rooms, the project understands rehabilitation as a gradual experience: arrival, preparation, treatment, rest, return to natural light and direct contact with the landscape.

The intervention begins with a former balneary facility built in 1974, abandoned after 1995 and gradually degraded into its current state of ruin. The existing load-bearing structure and longitudinal axis are retained and become the framework for the new composition. New volumes develop along this axis, while porticoes connect the buildings and reinterpret the shaded structures characteristic of the original cold-bath complexes. They create a transition between interior and exterior, between the town and the water, and between the functional rhythm of treatment and the slower pace of the promenade.

The 30-metre chimney of the former heating plant is preserved as a visible landmark of the ensemble. Once an abandoned technical element, it becomes both the sign of entry and a material reminder of the facility’s original operation.

At an urban scale, the project extends the promenade and cycling route that currently end before reaching the site, restoring the connection between Techirghiol and Eforie Nord. The centre therefore becomes more than a treatment building: it is an infrastructure that recovers a ruin, reactivates the lakefront and brings the local balneary tradition into the present.