Stewart Hollenstein, one of the architectural practices behind Sydney’s forthcoming Green Square Library, has been awarded an honourable mention in an international design competition for a new 17,000m2 Regional Library in Varna, Bulgaria.
The competition was organised by the Varna Municipality and the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria. The current library collection of Varna is spread across six different buildings throughout the city and the competition sought to bring all of the collection under one roof and create a new public space in the centre of Varna.
Architects for Urbanity’s Varna library scheme, first prize winner in the design competition.
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and the third largest city in Bulgaria. The Stewart Hollenstein scheme picks up on the rich history of Varna as a city of generous public gardens, merging this with the library program. A series of stacked landscapes, each with their own distinct character, provide a multitude of indoor and outdoor spaces for civic activity.
First prize in the competition went to Netherlands-based practice Architects for Urbanity, with second prize going to Bulgaria’s I/O архитекти and third prize to Spatial Practice of Hong Kong. Greek practice PLUSR Chitecture were also awarded an honourable mention.
As per the competition guidelines, the competition winner Architects for Urbanity will now be invited to enter into a contract with Varna Municipality for design development and design execution with a maximum projected fee of 300,000 EUR.
