This project is a response to the Tulcea Central Area Design Competition, held by Romania’s Order of Architects and the Municipality of Tulcea, between March 2025 and June 2025, for which Sfera Arhitectura’s was awarded honorary mention.

"This project is awarded an Honourable Mention for its sensitive and profound vision. The main objective of the proposal is to humanize the vast and rigid spaces of the socialist era by creating a rich mosaic of historical and ecological layers. The project successfully proposes a new spatial and functional matrix aimed at reclaiming the human scale through the introduction of more intimate and diverse spaces, subtle topographical changes, and a nuanced landscape strategy." Extract from the Jury Appreciation

Polis Helodes, the city in the marshland: rewriting socialist spaces by restoring human scale and natural ecosystems through a lacustrine green matrix.

Recovering human scale & topography: the project explores a rewriting of the monumental scale of socialist propaganda spaces.

The new (old) identity: a lacustrine green matrix. New urban and ecological landmarks having roots in the natural and multicultural layers of Tulcea: wetlands and swamps, oriental slums and turkish bazaars

Functional diversity: the current deserted and monofunctional public area has been rewritten through a functional diversity that addresses all categories of city users.

Main node in a restored ecological corridor: the study area is a fundamental node in the green-blue network which connects all the green areas surrounding Tulcea with the Danube Delta. All proposed development is subordinated to the area's role as an ecological corridor.