For more than three decades, Romania’s Black Sea coast became a unique place of imagination and architectural experimentation. From the 1950s through the 1980s, this stretch of shoreline was transformed into a bold modernist project – a kind of open-air architectural laboratory shaped by dreams of a better society. At the heart of this vision was architect Cezar Lăzărescu, who led the effort to create seaside resorts that broke from the past. Opposed to crowded cities and industrial landscapes, these new resorts offered space, harmony with nature, and a fresh, modern way of life.

The coastline – stretching over 70 kilometers – was built gradually, evolving over 34 years. Its development was closely and continuously followed by “Arhitectura” magazine. Through photographs, drawings, and commentary from the architects themselves, the magazine told the story of how these buildings aimed to shape not just the landscape, but the people who inhabited it. Architecture fostered the “new man” in a context that pigmented the socialist future with visions from beyond the Iron Curtain.

Looking back at this archive today, we can see the creativity, optimism, and contradictions of the time. The designs often feel like a theatrical set – staged carefully to produce a certain experience of leisure and modernity. So, we’ve chosen to present the story of this coastline like a play, told in acts: from its daring beginnings, through the experimental highs of the 1960s and ’70s, to the gradual changes that began to challenge the original vision.

Today, what remains of this ambitious project invites reflection. These buildings are more than just concrete and glass—they hold memories, questions, and ideas about how architecture shapes the way we live, and what we hope for in the future.

Organisers: Romanian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, Union of Architects in Romania and Museum of Architecture in Wrocław