exterior view of Pencho Slaveykov Public Library

all images © Chybik+Kristof Architects & Urban Designers

Czech Republic / Italy based young architecture studio Chybik+Kristof Architects & Urban Designers reveals images of Pencho Slaveykov Public Library in Varna, Bulgaria. The design studio received bronze award for Architecture at the Expo 2015 Milano and they took part in an international competition Pencho Slaveykov Public Library in Varna, which held in November. The studio's proposal displays a closed volume, porous facade and sculptural structure that attributes to local materiality /character of the site, plus trasparency within a circular ascending-descending form. The structure is very inviting for the local community with its curvaceous entrance upward and the building of facade is reduced by some sort of slits that are drawn randomly.

interior view of the library colored with furnitures and open galleries.

The New library in Varna is an open transparent institution serving to the local community just as to the visitors of this popular seaside resort. Thanks to the open and permeable ground floor, there are great conditions for a rich public life not only inside, but also outside the library. 

The aim of the project is to create a significant city landmark referring to the history of the city and with a clear vision to the future. Its expressive form directly follows in a range of cultural aspects that helped to form the local urban planning and architecture in the past.

With the combination of the current global tendencies of modern libraries, it results in an unmistakable, simply local character of the house. The inner layout of the library offers a wide range of spaces in four basic vertical sections. Above the ground floor and an office floor there is a logically situated book depository and above this level, a generous space of reading rooms, library shelves and other necessary library facilities opens. 

Project Facts

Name: Pencho Slaveykov Public Library

Location: Varna, Bulgaria

Year: 2015

Studio: Chybik+Kristof Architects & Urban Designers 

Program: library, offices, exhibition space, café

Size: 18.420 m2 (total built-up area of the over ground levels)

Status: international open competition

Team: Ondrej Chybik, Michal Kristof, Victor Cojocaru, Martin Holy, Josef Chybik, Adam Jung, Anastasiia Korchagina, Vojtech Kouril, Miroslav Maly, Ondrej Mundl, Matej Strba, Zuzana Zathurecka.

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