“I have one free hour till the meeting, will wait for you in the library…”
In September 2016 the Municipality of Varna and the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria – Varna invited Bulgarian and foreign architects to participate in an open international architectural competition for a new building of Varna Regional Library. The competition aimed to collect under one roof the library’s collection, now spread in 6 different buildings, and at the same time to create a new and active public space in the center of the city.
The winner in this competition was “Architects for Urbanity” from Netherlands.
The new building of Varna Regional Library will be the first library to be built in Bulgaria for the last 30 years. This competition aims that the future building should demonstrate contemporary attitude to books and have one major message: “We are a modern, open and friendly institution. Come to spend your free time with us.”
The new library is expected:
- To create an entirely new public space in the heart of the city
- To offer new and adaptive environment for reading and learning
- To collect in one building the scattered fund of 866 000 library items of Varna Regional Library and to secure additional space for 400 000 new
- To provide for a comfortable working process of all traditional library activities
- To become an attractive place and a good alternative to spend your free time, even for people who don’t traditionally use libraries
- To become a successfully integrated part of the neighboring urban fabric and at the same time to offer a distinctive architectural identity