Initiatives / Experiments / Visions
Mark Twain Pocket Park
Author Name
Danciu MihaiProfession
ArhitectCo-authors (team members)
Suharu Mario Roberto, Stefan Gal CristinaLocation
Dumbravita, jud. Timis
Project description
The Mark Twain Square project deals with the subject of designing a public space located in an area without a predefined identity. The municipality of Dumbrăvița, although a rural one from the point of view of the classification of the settlement, is a settlement with a peripheral urban character through the prism of the specifics of the plots, the street layout and the relationship between public and private space. In this context, the proposal for the arrangement of the Mark Twain square takes into account a series of elements that represent a set of challenges for any community in the process of formation: the lack of public space to bring a community together, the lack of attachment of the inhabitants to the place and problems caused by climate change. Thus, the proposal considers the public space as a whole that is formed over time by associating the street profile with the pocket green space, both with multiple roles: as a coagulator of the community, as a water retention area for periods of extreme climate (storms and heavy rainfall, especially) and promoter of non-motorized mobility. Considering this desired (of the multiple role), the proposal will be implemented in four successive stages: the first two on a plot already owned by the public authority, the third on a land in private ownership but with the prospect of passing into public ownership as a result of a zonal urban plan, and the fourth in the street profile of larger dimensions than a usual street, configured on Mark Twain Street. The design takes into account the options of a population in an area undergoing continuous urbanization, regarding the possibilities of carrying out various activities: children's play, sports and spaces for pets. In addition to these functional aspects that aim at the connectivity between the main residential areas, the technical solutions consider the use of permeable surfaces, perimeter delimitations of the alleys that turn into places for sitting and the use of native vegetation specimens: acacias, oaks and birches.
Author's presentation text
We are a team of architects consisting of Mihai Danciu, member of the Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of the Politehnica University in Timișoara and two young architects, Cristina Stefan Gal and Roberto Suharu. Passionate about urban planning and with the desire to efficiently and effectively solve the problems arising in different urban contexts in which we operate, we tried to bring forward a solution, through the presented project that would harmoniously solve the integration of a green area in the existing urban typology of the Dumbravita municipality.
