What the earth gave up, the water gave back

For nearly forty years, this was a wound in the ground. From the 1920s until 1958, workers dug clay and sand here to feed the Binder brick factory, cutting the earth open on the edge of Sibiu. When the factory closed, the pit was left behind, until groundwater and rain slowly filled it, and over time, an industrial site became a lake. 

In 2017, the city began to imagine a different future for the area.  

The shores were cleared of years of accumulated waste, the lake bed was dredged, and the water was reshaped and deepened for swimming and sport. By the autumn of 2021, the transformation was complete. 

Today, Lacul lui Binder holds a sandy beach and a green, terraced one, a floating playground for children, two wakeboard cables for beginners and adrenaline-seekers alike, kayaks and paddleboards gliding where clay carts once rolled, and a promenade planted and furnished for the whole city to share. Anglers cast lines at dawn and dusk; families spend afternoons on the sand; first-timers learn to ski on the water where bricks were once fired from the earth beneath them. 

The story of Binder Lake is not about erasing its industrial past, but reshaping it for the future. Through sustainable tourism, this former clay pit has been given back to the local community, transforming a site of resource extraction into a shared space where residents and visitors alike can reconnect with nature, sport, and each other.