Urban ID: competition of ideas for landscaping the area around Lia Manoliu Stadium

Two young architects from Timisoara have won the ideas competition initiated by the British Embassy in Bucharest, for the design of the area around Lia Manoliu Stadium. The project, entitled "Mens Sana in Corpore Sano", proposes a sustainable approach using alternative energy and recreating social ecosystems by improving the physical health and general well-being of the users of the space.

"We started from the idea of changing for the better the current state of the population's health, we are referring to the alarming level of obesity increase in Romania, in direct relation with the decrease of green space per capita and the decrease of interest in sports and national sports performance," said the winners, Marius Stelian Găman and Ana-Maria Branea.

As a reward, the winners went to London on March 20-23 to visit the Olympic Park.

Second prize went to Miruna Pavoni and third prize to Ciprian Mateescu, both architecture students in Bucharest.

The projects were judged by representatives of the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" in Bucharest, the Bucharest City Hall, the City Hall of the 2nd Sector of the Capital, the British Embassy and the Romanian Green Building Council. The criteria were contextuality, feasibility, clarity, originality and versatility.

Places I-III: the winning ideas According to a press release sent by the British Embassy, the jury praised the pragmatism, feasibility and complexity of the winning project, which addressed the largest number of issues and from the most angles, e.g. space utilization and configuration, ecology and landscaping.

The proposal was convincing with its solution of maintaining the already existing rich vegetation, the idea of an artificial hill as a lawn in summer and a toboggan run in winter and, above all, the emphasis on the development of public sports fields.

The second place winner impressed the jury with her manifesto against alienation from computers. She proposed the creation of a public space that would offer users an alternative to Web 3.0 and help them regain their collective identity by reconnecting with their environment and the city they live in. The project proposes to create a link between the Summer Theater, as a place for public events, and the Parachuting Tower, a highly symbolic and powerful element.

The third-place winner came up with a bold idea, which includes reshaping the topography of the site by translating the natural surface of the park over the sports halls and annex buildings. In addition, he proposed the implementation of a system of autonomous, dynamic and versatile elements to accommodate visitors during the day and to animate the park at night with light and color. Natural, recycled and inexpensive materials should be used to implement the solutions, with benefits in reducing the carbon footprint and the urban island effect.

The British Embassy in Bucharest organized the competition based on the successful construction of London's Olympic Park - the largest urban regeneration project in Europe. While it's a competition that has produced some good ideas, unfortunately there is no guarantee that the winning project will be implemented.

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