urbano modulo
2009-2013
Sofia, Bulgaria / SofBuild
UM is situated on “Al.Stamboliiski” boulevard, which arrives from “St.Nedelya” church at the very center of Sofia. Following this axis, the tower is the second high rise after the National Insurance Institute (NII) building. Analogical to the composition of the NII and its white local stone, contrasting the horizontality of the facing shopping mall and following the details of the Stalinist school building next to it, UM establishes connection with the local context. The office programme, the 15 storeys height and the small plot make the building a new vertical
repere in a live urban landscape. It started with simple recognizable elements - slabs carried by columns. Refracted through a modern prism they turned into signs of prefabrication resembling double T panels. The structure remained but joints run through the middle of each element dividing the volume into smaller parts. The new structure was then exposed to forces of attraction and repulsion.As a result the slabs and columns shifted in different ways , yet remaining parts of the whole.
