designer architect researcher

loveit

small businesses in what used to be the trash chute of the vhods of the blocks were a strategic move even before the fall of communism. By putting small businesses in these spaces the vhod collects rent. The rent helps pay for the upkeep of the common spaces.

Plovdiv

Hillock Fraternity Monument . . . click for more

connections

welding diagrams.
“This is the main problem with panels today, we just don’t know how those welds were done, and what they look like now.”. . . . . . . .

expiration dates

"no one wants to talk about it, but allllll those buildings, where alllll those people live, they're going to expire."

echos

"All week I've been dreaming of a safari!"

seasons

'A box in the world theater' - Walter Benjamin If you need me, I'll be here, watching the world theater unfold.

mailboxes

"they probably don't give them to renters...."

context

panelkite in their natural habitat. with stratification as clear as this, it really seems as though the panelkite are exactly where they are are supposed to be....

ikoni and a switch

I hear about how, the night before Easter, they would show american movies in the theaters, in attempts to deter people from the midnight candle tradition at the churches. One evil for another they figured.

Architects of Trakiya

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 . . . . . . . .

bisetka reflections

the boundaries of privacy in the space of facebook became a whole lot more confusing.

popsy’s birthday

I’m in the mountains this weekend celebrating this amazing woman.
(that’s her husband standing over her, a man of few words, but an impecable sense of humor and as warm . . . . . . . .

trakiya

The residential neighborhood on the east end of Plovdiv will be the focus of the first part and possibly all of my research.

защо (why?)

Trakiya is composed of socialist . . . . . . . .

clear

so I cleaned my windows..... and then I cleaned the second layer of windows that glasses in the entire height of the balcony.

water heaters

It squeals as it pulls water into the tubes, heating the liquid, filling its big belly.

late night haircut

"In 1991 we turned the storage room into a hair salon. We live upstairs. There is a number on the door, whenever anyone wants, they call, and we come cut."

bedroom and rakia

"She's old. She doesn't need these rooms. She sleeps in the kitchen, so we keep the rakiya in the bedroom."

vhod

bloc 71 vhod A and the shoe cobbler.

wayfinding

"Those people, the people that have lived in the villages all their lives, they don't understand things like this..."

Week 1

1. Establish what is existing in the Trakiya Neighborhood.

Archive findings:

– 3 articles throughout the mid to late 70’s from the Magazine ‘Архитектура’, the country’s architectural publication.  Luckily, one . . . . . . . .

archives

a day digging in the archives,

and the endless search for the architectural plans of trakiya.

I walk up to the granite steps as the rain begins to fall harder.. . . . . . . .

business and home

"People who don't like to leave Trakiya if they don't have to. Our business has been much better here than it probably ever would have been in the center"

for the mice

"She went there to be an architect, and we live here.... where the mice run up and down our pipes."

catching busses

"We didn't have sidewalks or grass, but we had big streets and lots of busses....."

sofia street treats

a trip to sofia to have a housewarming party for eireene.

we walk through the streets with iliya, collecting the low hanging fruit, and talk about walking on stilts.. . . . . . . .