Redevelopment of the Somes River in Cluj-Napoca

Estudio Práctica

Typologies Landscape architecture / Urban planning Infraestructure
Date 2024
City Cluj-Napoca
Country Romania
Photographer Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío R. Rivas) Sergiu Razvan

The Spanish firm Práctica – Jaime Daroca, José Mayoral, José Ramón Sierra – was commissioned to regenerate 15 kilometers of the banks of the Sommer River that lie within the Rumanian municipality of Cluj-Napoca. An outcome of a 2017 competition, the operation has benefited from a large interdisciplinary group of collaborators. The course of the river thickened, giving rise to new public spaces, such as squares, beaches, and tiered-seating areas.

The project included: first, a system of terraces broadening the river’s edge towards the urban fabric, expanding the fluvial section, and transforming the old hard bank into a more natural boundary by putting in plants, rocks, and sand, resulting in greater biodiversity; second, several paths and bridges for walkers and bikers, giving continuity to what was a fragmented circuit along the river; third, a series of diagonal roads to sew the river to its immediate surroundings. These paths have redefined the existing urban connections, creating a corridor linking up a diversity of public spaces and green zones.