Developed for IULIUS and Atterbury Europe and designed by UNS and Felixx Landscape Architects and Planners, and shaped from the outset by direct input from the city's residents, RIVUS will return a long-inaccessible stretch of the Someș riverfront in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to public life.

The site carries a layered history. Originally known as the "Meadowland Garden," it became home to the Carbochim factory, founded in 1949 and eventually Romania's largest manufacturer of professional abrasives. While the company played a meaningful role in the city's industrial growth, it effectively closed off this part of the river for decades. RIVUS changes that.

Working alongside Felixx, UNS has designed a 14-hectare mixed-use district that places the Someș at its core rather than its periphery. The project weaves together a new city park, retail, restaurants and cafes, coworking spaces, and platforms for local producers into a single connected public framework. Two of Carbochim's original buildings will be preserved and given new purpose: the former administrative brick building as a coworking and entrepreneurial hub, and the arcade hall as a cultural venue, anchoring the new district in the industrial history it succeeds.

The design takes its cues directly from the river. A water-drop geometry underpins the spatial layout, with the building stepping down toward the water in a series of terraces that carry the landscape upwards through planted facades, green roofs, and a rooftop Japanese garden. Natural materials, including wood and stone, ground the development in its local context, while a network of pedestrian paths, cycle lanes, two new bridges across the Someș, and modernised streets extend public access well beyond the site boundaries.

With 165,000 m² of leasable area, over 400 stores, more than 30 restaurants and coffee shops, and over 700 trees and 100,000 plants across the site, RIVUS is designed to draw activity throughout the year rather than only at peak retail moments. It targets LEED Platinum and EDGE Advanced certifications and meets Romanian NZEB standards, with water management systems that store and cascade rainfall to irrigate the park and reduce runoff into the river.

Explore the full project here.