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r227
2021 - 2026
Sofia, Bulgaria / VAPO Building
Team
Plamen Bratkov
Rossitsa Bratkova
Yoana Penelova-Petrova
Photography
Velislava Petrova
This project transforms an abandoned building, formerly a complex of warehouses and offices and found in a rough-construction state, into a retail space with offices and two restaurants. It is the new home of a clothing and accessories brand.
The site lies on Sofia's Ring Road, in a spontaneously urbanized territory far from the center. That setting sits awkwardly with the distinctly urban identity of the brand. From the earliest conceptual phases, the design therefore sought an architectural image in deliberate contrast with its surroundings: though it stands on the city's periphery, the building had to carry the spirit of the city center.
Brick became the leading material and the arch its key expression. Arches are layered across the façade, each varying in
geometry, depth and brick bond.
Together they evoke the urban fabric as an accumulation of different eras, each leaving its characteristic imprint. The structure itself remains untouched, yet the new façade gives the existing building an entirely new architectural presence.
Beyond its brick "garment," the building gains a pronounced horizontal articulation, a response to the speed at which it is seen from the road. Full glazing at the ground floor and the top level lightens the mass and lends it a sense of levitation, further detaching it from the immediate context. Canopies of mirror-finish and corten steel metal, matching the color of the brick, project intermittently on the lower levels before gathering into a continuous line that crowns the building.
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