Renovation of toilets in 5th Primary School Ivan Vazov

Renovation of toilets in 5th Primary School Ivan Vazov

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  • By: Miroslav Velkov
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The building of Fifth Primary School Ivan Vazov in Pavlovo, Sofia was completed in 1949. It is a typical example of a mid-20th-century school building. The toilets in the school are located on each floor and are being used by pupils and teachers. Through the years they have been subject to many partial repairs with no projects and poorly funded. The result was right before our eyes: ugly toilets in disrepair, smelling bad and always leaky leading to high water consumption. 

We decided to reorganize the toilets thoroughly in order to meet the contemporary hygiene and security requirements and make them pleasant for the users. All partition walls were demolished to open up the space and eliminate the labyrinth of nooks and crannies, hard to clean and control. All toilet cubicles were reorganized to open directly to the main space with the sinks. The doors to the hall were removed for better security – in case of bullying anyone could call for help. A small storeroom for cleaning materials with a service sink was provided next to the sinks.

Colours are the main feature of the design. The ceiling height is quite big so it was necessary to lower it visually to make the space cosier for the children. That is why we also painted the ceilings in colour and installed pendant lamps. The coloured wall tiles reach the level of the door lintel thus structuring the space and making it more comfortable and comprehensible. 

As the toilets are used by children between 7 and 14 years of age, we installed sinks at different heights for everyone’s convenience. One cubicle on each floor is accessible for kids and teachers with disabilities.

Tell Yunatsite

Tell Yunatsite

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Tell Yunatsite is one of the most imposing prehistoric sites in Europe. It is a unique example of a site that has been inhabited for more than six thousand years. The site has been subject to long-term archaeological excavation and international research. It is also a place of interest for visitors.

These interweaving features were actually the biggest design challenge. How to protect a substance, which, in its essence, is an accumulation of highly vulnerable adobe, clay and soil? How to ensure future research activities, which, in fact, remove layer after layer from this substance? How to explain the significance of this seemingly ordinary mass of earth? How to tell the stories, which the tell is hiding? How can we unite what seems to be non-unitable – a living archaeological (also in the context of a whole ecosystem that has developed here) and a unique for visiting (but hardly comprehensible) cultural site?

The massive profile of the tell is protected by steen nets and explained by large distinguishable elements. The area around the chalcolithic fortification wall is protected by a textile membrane shelter. And the protection of the fortress wall is provided by rammed earth – we apply the common approach refracted through the clay nature of the wall. A system of pathways and steps in the terrain, of steel grate platforms and stairs – open and developing – provides safe circulation and experience. All interventions are designed not to threaten nor damage the integrity of yet unstudied cultural strata, but to guarantee the possibility for future archaeological research: ready-made elements put in place, concrete tetrapods for foundations of the large shelter, protection without using chemical components. 

The architectural approach follows the principle of contrast – recognizability and attractiveness of the new elements without being intrusive to the environment. With the natural environment as a background, the new galvanized elements stand out with their minimalistic design. The white textile membrane defines the place where the prehistoric structures are exhibited in situ. Several red accents draw the visitor to the key spaces. The chosen materiality intuitively hints of temporariness and reversibility in the context of the prehistoric layering, of something new that is telling stories about the tell.

Karin Dom

Karin Dom

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The desire of Karin Dom for a place where children with special needs and their families feel free, together with the highly specialized and functionally introverted programme is a challenging task. How to combine protection with comfort, specialized with comprehensive or individual with common? How to create the feeling of one home for seemingly incompatible and diverse services: medical, social, educational? How to retain the strong spirit and legacy of the first building of Karin Dom in the new one?

The project introduces a broader concept of specialized care in a living organism that fuses healthcare and learning with play and joy of experiencing the world. A concept that goes beyond the specific requirements of the enclosed rooms but includes a sense of openness, friendship and community.

The new building of Karin Dom is developed as a single volume in the cradle of the lush greenery of the site. A fluent volume that embraces a piece of that nature granting a generously open space. The perception of a free environment is enhanced also from the common inner spaces around the courtyard. These are imagined as places where children and parents could find relaxation and withdraw when needed. Such spaces are important for the general inclusive learning environment, but also for building the sense of being among friends.

The project carefully considers the need for a comfortable and healthy environment. The big windows and glazed facade towards the inner courtyard bring abundant natural light in and allow for constant cross ventilation for all the premises.

With its outer wooden skin, the building integrates itself into the grammar of the existing urban grove. The wooden cladding over a coloured breathable facade membrane contributes to the relative privacy of the activities inside but at the same time gives a living appearance. Once in Karin Dom, though, one could embrace at a glance the whole building and its life through the inner glass skin.

Sveta Nedelya Square

Sveta Nedelya Square

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Arriving from the station we see the distant profile of the mountains to the south: the space of the square finds its logical conclusion in the geography of Sofia.

We walk in the large space of Sveta Nedelya Square and we look for signs: what is this space? Is it a square, or a roundabout? Is it a square or a linear crossing? We see some ruins and speak to the archaeologists leading the works: is it this what is underground? No, “this is only a minor part of the Roman and Ottoman cities”, they say… Monumental rests are calmly waiting under the tramway rails. We discover the different characters of the four quadrants around the square, their spaces, variety and richness, ruins surfacing here and there… Pure times we live by.

Sveta Nedelya Square is, in the project we propose, not only a square but a collective and broad experience in time and space. A place, as all the centre of Sofia, where we can feel time, “pure time” as anthropologist Marc Augé describes it, without resuming history or completing it, but assuming it as a deep cultural and intimate experience.

Our proposal is to work on the paradox of the coexistence of different times in the same space. The different cities laying one on each other in the space of the square become, in the project, part of the everyday life of the people walking by, meeting there, strolling and chatting.

The project introduces a broader concept of heritage in a living city. A concept that goes beyond the listed buildings, spaces, and archaeological structures but includes senses, memories, habits, liveability. An approach that is aiming at changing the perceptions of the people towards a multifaceted heritage and bring it closer to their everyday life.

What is impressive in Sveta Nedelya Square is the continuity in time. The project makes this perceptible also in space by introducing a continuous surface that inserts a third dimension, lowering and lifting up, in and out. The surface is a way to highlight the complex and continuous coexistence of different aspects of our life: archaeology, urban fabric, green areas, public spaces, transportation. We propose to create a seamless transition between epochs, not two separate levels in the space-time, but one surface that integrates the various layers into a single entity.

Sveta Nedelya Square will always be a square and part of the central pedestrian promenade crossing North-South the centre of Sofia, but it will also represent a planetary metaphor of memory and vision of the future. A unique place to live by.

By revealing and getting closer to the extraordinary heritage, the new Sveta Nedelya Square finds a new role in the city of Sofia. It becomes a hinge in a system of archaeological sites today fragmented, not always visible or accessible, not part of the city space. The continuous surface valorises all the square.

Kindergarten in Gorna Banya

Kindergarten in Gorna Banya

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The concept of the kindergarten is based on the kids’ needs and scale to provide experiences, to foster learning and creativity, to make the children feel cosy and free at the same time. The design follows this philosophy on all levels.

The situation of the building in the plot provides for optimal orientation of the premises and a large southern yard. The landscaping integrates various sensual experiences covering different fields of physical activities and creative thinking. The image of the building is a take on children’s drawings to create a kindergarten with a character. Two main volumes interpret the built environment of Gorna Banya and adapt to different scales of the adjacent space.

The functionality of the building is based on a clear differentiation of spaces – children spaces and administrative spaces. The foyer serves as a social space (gatherings, workshops, meetings of children, parents and teachers). Some of the rooms can be united and an additional hall could be used by the local community for different events.

The interior of the kindergarten offers unconventional spaces, flexible organisation through movable furniture and elements, individual game spaces. The design is simple, mainly in white and wood, to leave space for creativity, to foster activity and imagination.

Exposition Centre in Veliko Tarnovo

Exposition Centre in Veliko Tarnovo

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Emerging like a gold nugget the new exposition centre reaches out to the historic city and makes the inevitable connection with the future city centre. The building is designed as a recognisable single volume demonstrating distinctive features and reflecting the surrounding morphology and scale. The glare of the golden skin catches the eye and excites while changing with the change of weather and light. The building does not have a back, it is open to all directions and activates its environment.

The layout gives priority to the flexibility in order to provide diverse (indoor and outdoor) spaces that can simultaneously host a wide array of events. The building has versatile spaces that can easily change their roles: exposition, performance or meeting areas. The large multifunctional hall can also easily change its appearance: from a large closed independent raked floor auditorium to an open and flexible flat floor space. It can be further transformed into a broad spectrum of configurations allowing freedom in arranging and combining events. The hall opens to the plaza to the south and provides a striking framed vista to Veliko Tarnovo cityscape – also an option for a fascinating stage backdrop.

The design follows the programme of the building. The solidity and hardness of the concrete in the lobby surfaces stand in contrast to the lightness and elegance of the golden skin. The bare concrete connects the building with the terrain. The shining translucent skin reflects the freedom of functions and movement. The roof meadow creates another exciting space for people to relax, roam or contemplate.

New Urban Centre of Veliko Tarnovo

New Urban Centre of Veliko Tarnovo

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The concept for the development of the territory of the new urban centre is aiming at creating a place with a spirit and a place that is socially and economically resilient. To achieve this, our global urban approach follows three leading guidelines: express identity, take advantage of the existing, allow flexibility.

The concept develops around six major interwoven strategies built upon the genetic code of the place: Volumes, Programme, Connectivity, Spaces, Phasing, and Sustainability. These strategies follow certain principles inspired by the Veliko Tarnovo urban morphology thus providing for the coherent connections of the territory with the city on different levels: spatial, visual, social, cultural, economic. The joint and wise implementation of the strategies would guarantee both a territory with a strong identity and a place that transforms and adapts to life.

New Urban Park in Haskovo

New Urban Park in Haskovo

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The city of Haskovo faces the challenge of reusing a vast terrain of former military barracks. Abandoned for nearly a decade, the territory gradually loses many of its built structures and becomes unpleasant, dirty and avoided place. The city’s strategy is to transform the terrain into a new park.

The project is a competition entry designed in collaboration with place.make studio.

The project aims to reinvent the site’s potential as a connector between distinct city areas, diverse people and different times. The various proposed areas enhance the territory’s identity both as a former military unit and as a future city park. We took advantage of the existing. The individual functional areas are inspired precisely by the qualities of each particular place. The landscaping proposals integrate optimal reuse of natural resources – rainwater, timber, solar energy. The proposal preserves some of the anthropogenic assets – structures, building materials, peculiar elements. Thus, the new city park not only combines different places and activities but tells stories and engages the senses.

The Heating Plant

The Heating Plant

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The Heating Plant has already been recognised by the independent artists and their audience as an inspiring space for contemporary art forms. This is why we chose to preserve the spirit of the place. The project emphasises the identity of the Heating Plant, which invites the public to meet art and nature at an unusual urban place, to discover unexpected industrial spaces and structures behind and under the hills. A new intervention is proposed, which reflects the tendency of gradual change of cultural centres: from institutions, in which art is “served up” to the public, to hubs for active and spontaneous communication.
The core message of the project is interaction. A new recognisable mass in the complex is introduced, framed by the structure of the industrial hall. Its smooth mirror surface becomes the counterpoint of the hard and rough texture of the old materials. The mass is present and absent at the same time. The mirror interacts spatially with the environment and functionally with what is happening. The image changes with the seasons, with the light and with the events outside. Through the mirror the visitor passes in an alternative world. At the mirror, emotions multiply. In front of the mirror the spectators become performers, and actors become audience.
The design follows the idea of simplicity markedly involving the industrial theme. The interventions are minimal and clear, and showcase the specific charm of industrial spaces. The open areas are flexible and do not determine rigid functions, which allows the place to be constantly redefined by people.
The Heating Plant gains a new visual identity without imposing it. The glare of the mirror attracts and provokes the desire to find out what lies beyond. A new architectural environment is created, where interactions elevate the experience.

 

 

Buhovo Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene

Buhovo Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene

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The Buhovo Monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene is part of the Holy Mount of Sofia, close to the town of Buhovo, near Sofia. It functioned as a monastery for a very short time but it is very popular with the locals, which gather there to celebrate religious feasts with kurbans (sacrificial meals – mutton or white beans soup). And to picnic in the warm months.

It has been known for a long time that the today’s small church is built on top of a large Early Christian basilica. When people started building the church in the end of the 19th century they came across its foundations and as a manifestation of continuity they placed the new church in the basilica’s altar space. Later the basilica has been partially studied. Between 2013 and 2015 Sofia Municipality funded new archaeological research to fully study the Early Christian basilica. Its plan was finally confirmed, and along this, a necropolis from the Late Middle Ages was found as well as interesting artefacts from the near past.

Our aim was to conserve and present the Early Christian basilica and in the same time show the relation between the different historic layers, as well as let the community keep celebrating their feasts.

Our approach is based on honesty and simplicity. We restored the original terrain and showed the layout of the ruins with stone pavement in the grass. By the apse of the church, where we wanted to emphasise on the continuity, we kept the ruins above ground. At the entrance of the basilica and at it southern wall we sink the terrain to reveal the original structures. Thus, we honestly show the nature of the archaeological ruins – something that we find underground. We also showed the original way of entering the basilica by a steel grate platform with stairs above the original entrance. And to let people feel the space of the naos, we interpreted the pillars by using gabions filled with material from the site.

By the church there was a shed in disrepair that people used for seating during the kurbans. We reconstructed it using similar materials – gabions with the original stones from the shed’s fence, timber structure and corrugated sheets for the roofing.