Mamaia as a model: the 'radiant' housing estate of the 1960s

Mamaia influenced the design of the housing districts of the early 1960s, and this fact is also recognized. In the volume Vederi^{încântătoare1}, dedicated to the history of the socialist project of the Romanian seaside, several of the authors note this fact. Irina Tulbure writes that "Mamaia was the exemplary project that paved the way for the construction of large housing estates on the outskirts of towns throughout Romania"². Juliana Maxim says of the seaside resorts that they were "important agents in the spread of urban and architectural solutions in urban environments throughout the country"³, and that Mamaia "anticipated the transition to residential complexes conceived as organic and planned units"^4.

Microraion

The role of the Mamaia ensemble as a model - i.e. as an anticipatory illustration for the evolution of architecture in Romania in the years immediately to follow - was, moreover, already recognized at the