Plaur, our garden

In the 1970s and '80s,
as a designing architect, being in love with Tulcea County and the Delta, with the landscapes and the people here, I developed several projects in this area, through the Centrocoop Design Department.

The most successful and inspiring was the project for a tourist complex on the banks of the Sfântu Gheorghe arm of the Danube, located in Mahmudia, about. 30 km from Tulcea. The main road Tulcea - Murighiol, which passed through Mahmudia, went down the Danube bank, running about 150 meters parallel to the water. The Mahmudia municipality's urbanization plan foresaw that this stretch of the river would be laid out for promenade, being marked by two interesting constructions - a tourist complex and a cultural center. The tourist complex was commissioned as a project to the CENTROCOOP Design Section, which was an institute specialized in such constructions.

A unique project in the Danube Delta

The beneficiary UJECOOP Tulcea asked for a modern building, adapted to the location area, which would meet the requirements of tourists, including the offer of traditional local products. The design brief called for two restaurant halls with about 200 seats and 36 beds in twin-bedded rooms, plus a kitchen with all preparation and storage facilities, including a small butcher's and confectioner's workshop. For the architect who designed the project, the theme was interesting, but the project was difficult to realize, given the obligation to use standardized sections, as required by the directives of the political leadership. For an objective situated on a unique site, in a specific area of the Delta, on the Danube bank, the application of standard designs was practically impossible. We had to obtain the Opinion of the State Building Inspectorate for a one-off project, to which we could only apply a certain hotel room type section, having to prove that our one-off project realized lower consumption of cement and concrete steel than the existing standard projects. This was effectively verified by structural engineers from the Central Building Inspectorate.

Architecture under the Măcin Mountains

One of the methods of reducing the consumption of cement and concrete steel was the design of the hotel and restaurant, the small hall and the preparation and storage annexes on load-bearing masonry with concrete belts. The site was located at seismic grade 6 on the Richter scale, with virtually no earthquakes. The design of the large restaurant hall as an octagon covered with a conical structure with a natural ventilation lantern with radial beams also required low consumption, imitating the ancient mounds in the Dobrogea area. The terrain was uneven, the site having as foundation ground partly stone from an extension of the Măcin mountains under the hotel and earth under the restaurant and annexed services. This situation required the partial embedding of the foundation 20-30 cm deep into the natural stone dislodged by shot blasting and a subsidence in the construction in relation to the portion founded on natural earth.

Official acceptance, 1982

The project developed in 1979 was executed in 1980-1981 and technically accepted in 1982, after which it was also opened to the public. The official reception was a festive one, as the county officials, headed by Ioan C. PETRE, first secretary, were delighted with the appearance of the complex and were keen to attend the inauguration. As the designing architect, I led the guests, i.e. the entire county administration, to visit the complex, after which the official reception began in the octagonal restaurant hall. Among the realizers, I was invited as the designer together with my wife and the builder Alexandru DUMITRU from Constanta with his wife. President of UJECOOP Tulcea, ec. Constantin ION, as the beneficiary, delivered the reception speech, in which he praised the contribution of the designer and the builder to the realization of the complex. It was a special occasion of official public appreciation of our work. Several actors in vogue at the time, such as Stela POPESCU and Alexandru ARȘINEL, were also invited to preview some of the sketches they later performed at the Bohemian Garden in Bucharest. Popular music lovers were joined by singer Romica PUCEANU and accordionist Aurel BUDIȘTEANU. The party went on decently until after midnight, when the guests retired to their hotel rooms until noon. In the afternoon, going downstairs for coffee, they were invited to the second dining room, where they chose for their home from among the 80 fish products presented in a gastronomic exhibition, made by the chef of the new complex, who was for several decades a chef on cruise ships.
Awards and mentions
The furniture and decorations of the complex were designed by fellow architect Anton BALASAN (+), and the lighting fixtures by architect Florian DUMITRIU, with whom I, as architectural designer and project manager, had excellent cooperation. In the year following the opening of the Plaur complex in Mahmudia, the project exhibited at the Union of Architects was awarded a prize. The project attracted more demanding tourists, who could also take boat trips on the Danube and go fishing. After the opening of the complex, a larger one, equipped with dozens of camping sites, called Pelicanul, was also built by CENTROCOOP, in nearby Murighiol, designed by fellow architect Georgeta ZAHARESCU.

CENTROCOOP, tourist infrastructure and RBDD

CENTROCOOP, the production, purchasing and merchandise distribution cooperative, has realized practically the entire tourist and trade infrastructure in the Danube Delta, as well as in the whole country. Thus, in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, the following have been designed and built by the undersigned: Noviodonum Hotel and Restaurant in the town of Isaccea; a public catering and service complex in Niculițel, a lakeside holiday village on the Black Sea shore in Sfântu Gheorghe and another lakeside holiday village in Portița, on the shore of the sea and Lake Sinoie, in the commune of Jurilovca. In addition to CENTROCOOP, the Ministry of Tourism has built a modern tourist complex on the Sulina Arm, at Mila 23, which was modernized after privatization.
Your Jardine
The Plaur de la Mahmudia complex was also modernized and enlarged after 2000 by a local architect, Mihalache, who, unfortunately, did not feel that he had the obligation, at least collegially, to contact me, and partially modified the architecture of the complex, in the sole economic interests of the new owner. From a chic building, a symbol for the area, called Plaur, the complex was extended into the Danube, with massive stone infill, an outdoor terrace with a swimming pool and a wedding reception hall, in order to ensure the owner the highest possible takings. The current name - Mon Jardin - bears no relation to the local reality.