WELCOME



Welcome to the “Balkan Syndrome” – The Bulgarian Transition

The aim of this blog is to investigate and question the role (if any) of the society during the transitional period and until now in Bulgaria, in relation to the built environment and the transformations occurring in the cities. The questions that are curious for me and will try to investigate deeply are my first thoughts about our society: Does the term Civil Society exists in Bulgarian and if not, why? Is there a reason for the Bulgarian society to be united? How could this be achieved? How can the public play a role in the transformations of the cities they live in a way that the country and its varied organisations can offer them an opportunity to express, take part, be listened, participate, feel bespoken and valued… (to be broaden and clarify during the course of the year).

I really don’t want this blog and generally my work to be a simple record of my thoughts and ideas, so I encourage all who are interested to take part, leave comments, ideas and participate in one form or another… (you can do this in bulgarian if you want/може да пишете или коментирате под една или друга форма и на български)

Thanks in advance,

Silviya Aytova

20 October 2010

Venice Biennale 15-18.10.10

Bahrain Pavilion

Bahrain's Pavilion is the one that won the Golden Lion at the 12th Venice Biennale of Architecture and it's main theme is an investigation on the decline of sea culture in the Island.

The Pavilion was of a particular interest of me as it tackles close problematic issues concerning the decline of a specific activity that unify the Bahraini culture in a very sensitive an settle way, by showing how the fisherman huts looked like and how they were used.

"Given the range of vast urban developments that Kingdom of Bahrain could have been tempted to include in this Exhibition, the jury was impressed by the choice, instead, of a lucid and forceful self-analysis of the nation’s relationship with its rapidly changing coastline. Here transient forms of architecture are presented as devices for reclaiming the sea as a form of public space: an exceptionally humble yet compelling response to People Meet in Architecture, the theme proposed by Exhibition Director Kazuyo Sejima."  (Explanatory statement of the Jury on the Venice Biennale website)






 


Another interesting and eye catching project:

“Blueprint is a dialogue between an artist’s home and its past, present, and future silhouette. Do Ho Suh’s work is a full-scale 12.7 meter tall, fabric façade of the New York townhouse where he currently lives. Suh Architects’ full scale floor installation is a composite image of three facades: Doho Suh’s current home, the hanok in which both brothers grew up, and a typical Venetian villa. This hard, imagined “shadow” thus reflects a soft, existing home’s façade, blurring one’s notion of home.”

  






The Mausoleum Georgi Dimitrov






































“The Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum in Sofia, Bulgaria was built in 1949 to hold the embalmed body of the Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949). The construction of the Mausoleum was begun right after the news of Dimitrov's death. It was built for a record time of just 6 days, the time it took for Dimitrov's body to return to Sofia from the USSR. The body of Bulgaria's first Communist leader remained there until August 1990, when he was cremated, and buried in the city's Central Cemetery. The Mausoleum was destroyed by Ivan Kostov's UDF-led government in 1999 as a consequence of heated nation-wide debate.”


The site of the Mausoleum (Prince Alexander of Battenberg Square) is of a particular interest of me and I consider it to be the first stop of my Movable Pavilion. It symbolises the power of the Communist regime prior 1989, between 1989 and 1999 was seen as a monument which stood for what it was Bulgaria's repressive past, and since it was demolish in 1999 it became subject of huge debates about whether it was right to demolish and what could happened in the future to the site. On the following diagram I’m showing people that for me represent different groups in Bulgaria and their wishes and ideas for the site. 1. Museum of Communism, 2. Boards and Blades Skatepark, 3. Open air cinema, 4. Piramide with Han Asparuh, 5. Monument “Prince Boris Ⅰ - The Baptist”, 6. Chirch, 7. Space for art, 8. Open air theatre.

I want to bring back the debate on site and use the pavilion also as a platform for further debates around the future of Sofia, where the citizens of Sofia should learn to discuss it and be involved in it. As Petar Dikov, Sofia Chief Architect said: “The debate around the Mausoleum moved the citizens to think about the future of Sofia”


Brief 1 07-14.10.2010



I have always been interested in politics and how politics shapes our future and the future of the cities that we live in. I think I’ve inherit this passion from my mother and my grandfather, both strong democratic believers. My grandfather was a soldier during World War Ⅱ and unfortunately lived most of his life under the communist regime and I know a lot from this period from his stories.

For our first task we had to prepare and present a finite piece of research and to bring a prototype of an existing contract. After my first tutorial with Peter he directed my to focus on my idea about the pavilion and to either find a site that I think the pavilion will fit in and is promoting the direction that this particular place has taken or on the contrary, a place that oppose transformation and is a symbol of stagnation. I chose the the second one...




First thoughts on the idea of a Movable Pavilion


My idea for the gift project, although coming a bit earlier that then the brief for this project is a gift project for the city of Sofia, for its citizens and for the architectural practice and is intended to raise awareness of the state of the built environment for the last 20 years in Bulgaria and serve as a platform for its future development and transformation. Primarily my intention for the pavilion was to serve as an informational kiosk about all the events and projects happening or undergoing where the public could be informed and contribute in one form or another in their realization. Participation from the public, being encourage to ask and respond to a program or a project is crucial. Then my idea developed in a direction such that the pavilion could also be used as an outdoor gallery or stage for exhibiting new ideas and projects for the city, either student projects or anyone who has something to contribute to positive transformation of the city. I am imaging the pavilion to be movable, so that it can change its location depending on the projects and the areas of interest or even travel in different cites or outside of the country. 

19 October 2010

School Module - Initaitive by The United Architects in Sofia (ССА) and The Union of Bulgarian Architects (САБ)


On 16th of September, 2010 I gave a talk in the main building of the Union of Bulgarian Architects in Sofia about the Architectural Education in the UK, showing sample of my projects tthroughout the years, focusing on the methods of teaching and approach. The presentation was followed by a long discussion about the architectural education generally and on the projects that I showed. The people that were present (mostly students) were very interested as the methods and projects are completely different comparing to the Bulgarian approach of teaching.



Alternative Initiatives Cuba



On the 8th of October I attended a conference titled Alternative Initiatives Cuba - Architectute in Context and this was the start of my inspirational activities that I hope will broaden and enrich my horizons in order to be more effective and respond in a tactic way to the context that I'm working in. I had a great opportunity to listen to Ricardo Porro, the architect of the revolution in Cuba who designed and built The School of Fine Arts and Modern Dance (1961-1965) in Havana which is an example of how tradition is merely a sensible expression of idea or work of art and how tradition playes a key part in developing a project in context which I think is a valuable idea to immerse in.





find out more on: http://www.alternativeinitiatives.co.uk/www.alternativeinitiatives.co.uk/Alternative_Initiatives.html