A GLIMPSE OF THE WEST: SOFIA'S POTENTIALS

UACEG - University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia, Bulgaria

Project idea

In recent years, Sofia’s territory has grown in southeastern direction – Business Park Sofia (built 2001 – 2008), Sofia Tech Park (opened Dec 2015), Sofia Airport, lay all in the southeastern end of the very important diagonal that boulevard ‘Tsarigradsko shose’, boulevard ‘Slivnitsa’(Sofia) and road E80 (Bulgaria) form. Therefore, my aim is to balance this development – I hope that this project can be seen as an example for the usage of Sofia’s northwestern potential.

Project description

In Sofia's Master Plan there are areas that need a change in function as they are old industrial terrains. I chose to work in the stated area as it is closest to the city center, there is a park nearby and a natural element (the Suhodol river), the area also includes National Cultural Heritage - the Old Sugar Factory, which have been taken into account.

In the Existing Situation Plan we can see the functions of the buildings and the property ownership. After analysis of the area, those were the two factors that played a critical role in the decision making. There is a state property that is situated in the center of the area and is highly appropriate for our idea - to build a Tech Park that can oppose the existing Business and Tech Parks; that is near the city center and has natural elements for the recreation of its workers. A primary aim was to keep as much of the existing structures and for the new ones - to be added in stages.

Having the West Park just south from the stated area, a connection had to be established between the park and our recreational zone. That resulted in the demolition of some of the residential buildings that were in a bad shape. To compensate, the industrial buildings in the north part that are not functioning, are replaced with new residential building.

The existing situation in the choses state property includes old storage buildings of the Ministry of Interior. Nontheless, one particular group has a quite interesting morphology, therefore, it is kept in the project as Laboratories for Research and development. The other plans for the territory include offices and public servise buildings.

Another important aim for this development is to keep the Tech Park open for public, which means organizing cultural events, games and other physical activities. It also means enough pedestrian and recreational spaces. Therefore, a Cultural Center Building had to be placed.

As stated above, it is a priority to let the public into the process of revitalization. The developed office building is chosen because of its important location. In the ground floor there are two passageways for the public that divide the building in three sections. The retail shops are design so that they can be accessed from the open-public zones. There is a restaurant and a coffee place for the employees of every office section.

Technical information

The technical details and specifications are described in the Project Photos.

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