A huge number of Bulgarian towns and cities suffer from a lack of rules to achieve architectural harmony, both in their central parts and in the newer neighbourhoods that are appearing on their periphery, architect Yordanka Georgieva told BTA during the NextHome Black Sea 2024 forum held in Burgas, on the Black Sea, on Thursday.
Georgieva, who has worked on numerous projects in Europe, the US and the Middle East, said that despite problems with the general look of buildings in the country, there has been an improvement in the quality of developer projects completed in recent years.
Georgieva said: "We are seeing more balanced construction compared to what we had 15 years ago. Especially in new gated communities. Either way, there is room for improvement. The first thing that makes an impression in the new built-up areas, not only in Burgas but also across the country, is the infrastructure. There is none, there is uncontrolled development of buildings too close to each other, no distance [between buildings], not enough landscaping. Not to mention water areas. My appeal to investors is not to strive for profit only. Let them also think about what they will contribute to society. Let them think about what a building will do to make them immortalize them in history. We have to consider what are we leaving for future generations."
Burgas - modern urban eclecticism amidst Italian heritage
Georgieva said that many of the spaces and buildings in the central part of Burgas were designed by Italian architects and urban planners. Their legacy is an urban space with good spacing between buildings, well integrated green spaces and a generally homogeneous urban environment. "At the moment we have a problem with the lack of homogeneity. By no means does this hold true for Burgas only. But let us look at this city - the building stock is a strange mix of different styles. We see old low buildings. Next to them rise modern buildings clad in glass, which are often also scary tall. The new buildings change the look of the city, but in no way correspond to the overall vision of the heritage we have," Georgieva said.
According to Georgieva, the main reason for this is the lack of a common framework for the architectural appearance of the city. "I think that the Municipality of Burgas needs to create a unified framework. Let me give the example of a city in the Santa Barbara area in the US. It has a very homogeneous building stock, because it has strict architectural standards." The municipality standards limit the number of floors a building can have, the type of its roof and even the tiles that cover it, which helps the area have one style. She added: "We could also have such an environment, because the foundation in Burgas was laid 100 years ago by Italian architects. They have done a miracle with this city. If we cannot preserve the old buildings, at least let the new ones be refracted through the prism of classics."
There has been an improvement in the materials used for new buildings in our country. There is no shortage of quality designs, but the lack of architectural norms creates chaos that prevents even good buildings from standing out, Georgieva said.
Commenting on holiday properties, Georgieva said: "Bulgarian holiday properties cannot be called holiday properties. They are not profitable. You can refer to them as apartments. This is because the Bulgarian hotelier or supermarket owner thinks only about their own profit."
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