I have begun interviewing the Architects of Trakiya,
learning about the entire process of the project,
and also asking about the design considerations, the parameters, and even the environment.
Meet the beautiful Violeta Raeva.
Trakiya was her first job out of school,
she specifically designed the kindergartens that are located out the back of my balcony.
She was one of many young architects working together on the buildings of Trakiya. She speaks highly of the environment, all the young architects all working closely together, pushing design through the collaboration of their fresh minds. The young architects did not look favorably upon the panel block apartment buildings. This was 1970, the panel blocks had already been around for around for 20 years, first being built and experimented with in the 1950s in the Czech Republic, and also two panel block neighborhoods already in existence in Sofia (Mladost and Lyulin).
Trakiya was an experimental neighborhood. Many of its concepts are new, especially when we speak of the urban organization and the organic layout of the 13 regions along the main curving artery. The panel block apartments, however, were anything but new.
What were the young architects to do? They pushed the design to a new level.
They innovated the way in which the units of panel blocks attached to each other, connecting on two different axes stepping the units across the land instead of the straight box apartments.
There will be many more interviews with Architect Raeva to come.
Her heartfelt memories of those times with her colleagues are an absolute joy to listen to.