The project challenges the role of public buildings in the context of economic, social and political decline by re-establishing civic focus to combat urban disorientation and reclaiming the public realm. The design pivots around the reciprocity between material lightness and civic weight, between the flatness of the façade and the depth of the spaces; and frames the project’s faith in the role of a single building reinforcing its relevance to problems faced by architects and urbanists today – building meaningful architecture without excessive expense, capturing the accumulated history of a place and reintroducing it to future generations in an approachable and engaging way. Spatially and compositionally the building encourages the seemingly dissimilar typologies of industrial and civic to exist side by side and manifests the importance of their shared history, relying on playfulness and sophistication as a tool to propose a typology that is specific yet timeless.
Author: Monika Marinova
Cast: Monika Marinova
All videos and images for illustrative purposes only.
Location: Burgas, Bulgaria
Monika Marinova graduated with a Professional Diploma in Architecture with Distinction from The School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University, and with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from Manchester School of Architecture at The University of Manchester. Among other distinctions, her work has been awarded nominations for RIBA Presidents’ Bronze (2015) and Silver (2019) Medals. In 2020 she won the Young Talent Architecture Award, part of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. Exploring the intersection between social value and design, she is currently part of the interdisciplinary studio Think Forward in Burgas.
