Prahova Valley, Azuga, Romania

Our philosophy consisted of creating a fresh, contemporary design that would literally reflect the beauty of the Valley and the Mountain, and elegantly integrate into the existing environment as an inspiration for the future of Azuga. To become a destination, the critical mass of this complex development should be sensitively broken into components, appealing to users in scale, function, and aesthetics. This year-round destination resort should attract enough people to make it lively and attractive all the time.

The development is composed of 5 distinct components:

1. Hotel Facilities
2. Condominiums and Aquapark
3. Retail and Entertaining
4. Garage and Services

The prevailing access to the site would be from the East Side where the present Highway from Ploiesti to Brasov is located and the future elevated freeway is planned to be routed through the Prahova Valley and Azuga. Therefore, the hotel structure would be located on the West side of the development and would act as a gateway and landmark statement, anchoring the most visible side from the major accessible routes to attract by-passers’ interest. The core of the development is formed by two groups of condominium clusters, similar in plan configuration,whose design was strictly driven by the desire to provide a good orientation of apartments to the sun.

Each group of condos is composed of 4 L-shaped buildings, formatting 3 courtyards open on the South side for the maximum penetration of the sun rays, over the Sorica Mountain, into the courtyards and apartments. Both groups of condominiums are located on top of a 2 story retail base structure spreading from the hotel to the Aqua park at the East end of the site. The North group of the apartments is scaled down (2 to 4 stories) to relate to the town scale and Azuga River. The South group of apartments is scaled up to relate properly to the Sorica Mountain without creating a feeling of being submissive and dwarfed.

The Sorica Mountain is a monumental background for 4 towers which will be blending into this background by the colors borrowed from the surrounding and applied on the buildings and by the immediate contact with the base of the mountain. The East anchor of the development is the transparently glazed and vaulted structure of the Aquapark. It is naturally located between the base of the mountain and Azuga River, while effectively utilizing the narrow end of the site. At the same time, the location is maximizing the potential for an independent future expansion into the bow (arc) of Azuga River in the Northward direction. The pedestrian and vehicular access to the site is proposed to be effortlessly integrated into the existing street patterns and walkways.

Prahova Valley Resort, Aqua Park