a Metropolitan Fabric with Towers, Industrial Heritage and Public Space
Transformation of the former industrial platform of CFR Grivița halls and workshops into a connected neighbourhood
Calea Griviței, București
2023 – in progress
On how to create meaningful environments
The impact of such an intention is essential in a city that continues to deny and contradict its history, including recent history. And this is perhaps the main thread that coagulates and links the approach of the developer, Speedwell, with that of the design teams, Secchi Vigano office and ADNBA.
We aim to give a certain character to this extensive development, which does not remove the specific nature of the former industrial area, but, on the contrary, uses it to particularise, differentiate and, above all, to seek a possible form of continuity in what otherwise risks remaining only a fracture in the city.
Besides working with existing structures, the imprint and traces of the industrial past., we also try to maintain a certain spirit of the place. This way, material and
non-material elements that make the true character of the area are preserved and adapted in contemporary uses and means.
Public space
What gives the ensemble its open and transparent character is density planning. Large built-up area in buildings of different heights from 6 to 25 levels allows for diversity of connections, links and open spaces at the ground level.
The proposed neighbourhood articulates to the rest of the city through a network of public spaces (Calea Griviței) and green areas (railway).
The projects contains a system of axes and roads (some being the old routes of the industrial complex) that have attached to them some urban public spaces – mineral or green – that relate to the built environment and take different nuances through their size and local character – inner pedestrian streets, shared spaces, squares, open and covered intermediate spaces, galleries, terraces and so on.
Functional scenarios
The project tries to bring together, overlap and combine as many possible functions as possible in a diversified but homogeneous composition.
Of course, the area adjacent to the boulevard must have a specific orientation, so this is where the main office areas and larger-scale commerce should be located, but even here, formulas are sought to provide connections through the interior of the lot, not just along the eastern boundary, Calea Griviței. Further inland, the residential function becomes dominant, both volumetrically and in terms of density, but in the form of a mix with complementary functions, such as small-scale retail, gastronomy, food markets, workshops, hotel-type accommodation, student studios, sports facilities, event spaces and food markets, or for educational and cultural activities (formal and informal), in the same principle of organic blending.
The diverse functional nature, including flexible spaces for permanent and temporary uses, aims to bring different types and groups of users into the core of the development.
PROJECT TEAM:
ADNBA together with prof. Paola Vigano, cofounder of the Studio Associato Bernardo Secchi Paola Vigano urban planning office and Jan Demeyere, co-founder and architect Speedwell