National Museum Complex - Phase I

Phase I of the National Museum Complex in Sofia arrives at a time when Bulgarian society is undergoing a reassessment of cultural values and is in great need of a new self-assured and positive identity. The project recovers a lost space in the public realm and charges it with new meaning - a place where art can bring new ideas into the daily experience of the city. Backed by the European Regional Redevelopment Fund, the complex will showcase the country's two most valuable art collections - those of the National Art Gallery and the National Gallery for Foreign Art. The completed Phase I and eventually Phase II (scheduled for construction in 2015) are two critical steps in an urban master plan for creating a broader museum cluster in the nation's capital. SITE CONDITIONS: Located on St Alexander Nevsky Square, the project occupies a site shared by three existing buildings organized in a courtyard formation & the building of the National Gallery for Foreign Art and the former buildings of the Technical University. By the mid 90's, following the collapse of communism and resulting reorganizations of state institutions the Technical University building and its interior courtyard were left as a decaying empty shell. MUSEUM DESIGN: The project integrates new and existing building fabric around an open air sculpture court that acts as a symbolic heart of the museum institution. Once disconnected from the city, the court is now elevated to connect to the surrounding streets, creating a new cultural public space that can be used for art installations and special public events. Centered on important lines of sight, the void of the renovated courtyard acts as an orientation device and a point of reference for the museum visitors. Clad in the much used in the city Vratsa limestone, the new building tissue completes the massing of the complex while maintaining the volumetric hierarchy established by the nearby Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the roofline of the National Gallery for Foreign Art.

A full spectrum of museum programs is organized around the open court, achieving optimum functional integration of art galleries, public spaces, administration offices, art storage and restoration labs. The new elevated ground plane acts as a horizon that separates the public spaces and art galleries above from art storage and service spaces below. Art galleries throughout the complex enjoy strong visual connections with the museum courtyard as well as with the surrounding city, while skylights designed to filter natural light create a gallery environment with strong awareness of the outside lighting conditions.

SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES: Largely a project of adaptive building reuse, the museum greatly reduces embodied energy through optimal site utilization, recycling of existing structures and use of local materials. Ventilated facades, exterior shading, green roofs and new insulation products produce a high-performance building envelope, while intelligent lighting and interior climate control further optimize energy consumption. PROJECT PARAMETERS: Site - 7,613 m2 / Building - 13,683 m2