Architects for Urbanity has been awarded first prize in a competition for a new regional library in Varna, Bulgaria. What will be known as the "Pencho Slaveykov," the proposed 17,500-square-meter building was lauded by the jury for its ability to fit into the context "unobtrusively." It's design features a transparent "open space of knowledge" that divides the building's mass into two volumes and encourages the public to enter.
Office: Architects for Urbanity
Project Title: Varna Regional Library ''Pencho Slaveykov''
Status: 1st prize competition winner
Team: Irgen Salianji, Marina Kounavi, Katerina Petrocheilou, Liana Sofiadi, Karolina Szóstkiewicz
Total Area: 17 500 m2
Parking Spots: 330
Official Competition Website: http://www.varnalibrary.bg/entries?id=40
GENERIC LIBRARY, SPECIFIC PEOPLE
Subtracting a large longitudinal void across a compact orthogonal volume, we propose a symbolic gesture that creates ‘air’, space for the etheric body - the knowledge - to be developed. The open space of knowledge divides therefore the mass of the building into two solid volumes. The backside volume is fragmented in three large zones, so that on the back of the building a ‘spine’ is created, a well-structured verticality that accommodates the