Project Team:
DESIGN: Constantin Goagea / Cosmina Goagea / Cristina Ginara-Ivanof / Mara Stancu / Ana Constantinescu / Lisa Dres / Andrei Dilă / Mihail Sibiceanu / Mădălina Stănășel / Dinu Hoinărescu
MULTIMEDIA DESIGN: Alexandru Berceanu / Dilmana Yordanova / Ovidiu Eftimie / Cristian Dorobănțescu
SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC: Vlaicu Golcea
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Artemisa Pascu / Andrei Grosu
PRODUCTION: Kaustik
MECHANICAL INSTALLATIONS: Atelier SET
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vlad Pătru
Zeppelin Design creates spaces for culture and interaction. The group’s name was inspired by early 20th-century futuristic drawings in which zeppelins flew over the cities of the future, symbolizing confidence in technology and visionary thinking.
Zeppelin Design has developed its own research and action tools within a consultancy specialized in exhibition and museum design. Such projects—whether addressing history, literature, anthropology, natural sciences, art, ethnography, pop culture, technology, design, or architecture—are grounded in a shared vision in which interactivity and visitors’ curiosity play an essential creative role.
The design practice developed by Zeppelin Design aims to rediscover, integrate, and highlight the beauty of heritage, using storytelling and a wide range of technologies.
The project realized by Zeppelin Design consists of creating an exhibition center inside the Constanța Casino, an emblematic historic monument built at the beginning of the 20th century in the Art Nouveau style.
Once abandoned and close to ruin, the building underwent a five-year restoration process and was reopened to the public in 2025 as an exhibition center. It includes a permanent exhibition on the history of the Casino and the city of Constanța, as well as temporary exhibitions that restore its role as a cultural and social landmark.
Located on the waterfront of the port city of Constanța, the Casino is one of the most valuable Art Nouveau creations in Romania, embodying a manifesto of a bold and avant-garde Romania.
The New Constanța Casino Exhibition Center proposes a model of learning through interaction and exploration. The exhibition journey unfolds across multiple interpretive levels, addressing both specialists and the general public.
Each floor reveals a distinct thematic universe — from marine biology and archaeology to architecture and art — strengthening the building’s material and symbolic connection to the sea and to the cultural identity of the city.
An essential design decision was the use of immersive technologies—interactive mechanical installations, digital interfaces, video projections, mapping, and augmented and virtual reality elements—transforming the historical narrative into a multisensory experience.
These components are integrated into the spatial and narrative structure, turning visitors into active participants in the discovery of the layered history of the Constanța Casino.
The ground-floor exhibition presents the history of the Constanța Casino, addressing its Art Nouveau architecture and more than a century of cultural, social, and political life.
The basement—Stories from the Depths of the Black Sea—offers an immersion into myths and realities: from the world of Ovid, inspired by Metamorphoses and Tristia, to VR explorations of Greek, Byzantine, and modern shipwrecks discovered through archaeological research.
Visitors encounter the symbolic forces of sea deities, the layered ecosystem of the Black Sea, and an immersive experience with the ARGO submarine. Interactive installations such as The Wave explain the formation of natural phenomena, while a section on diving suits traces the evolution of diving from Antiquity to the modern missions of Romanian military divers.
On the first floor, the temporary exhibition Anghel Saligny – Beyond the Bridge presents the engineer’s vision of modern infrastructure. Together with the other exhibition levels, it transforms the Casino into an interactive cultural hub where heritage is activated through technology and edutainment.
"At the same time, we wanted to create a form of closeness to every detail—a way of inviting people to gradually engage with the space and with the perspective of the sea. So we designed a layered journey in which visitors discover its stories step by step, in a progression that stimulates their curiosity, intelligence, and desire to spend time there."
"In a popularity ranking, the Constanța Casino is certainly among the top five in Romania, and it has consistently maintained strong international fame—even during its periods of abandonment. Photographers from around the world have come as a kind of pilgrimage to capture both its decay and its beauty. It has been a postcard image, a favorite location for wedding photos, and today, once again, a must-see when visiting Constanța—or even better, a compelling reason to travel to Constanța and visit it in the off-season."
The Constanța Casino Exhibition Center project was awarded at the iF DESIGN AWARD 2026 in the Interior Architecture / Installations category, one of the most prestigious international design competitions recognizing excellence in the field. Established in 1954, the iF DESIGN AWARD honors designers who challenge conventions, rethink systems, and transform ideas into meaningful experiences. "On April 27, the awards ceremony took place in Berlin. The stage brought together some of the world’s largest companies—Sony, Apple, Google—as well as major museums and leading names in design and immersive production, representing the “crème de la crème” of the global experience design community."