muffin tops

Tactics in gaining space throughout Trakiya are simply impressive.

From the muffin topped balconies*, to illegally plopping a full insulated box on top of an adjacent roof in order to turn your 2 bedroom into a 3 bedroom (Ahem… block 16), a whole spectrum of colorful solutions can be seen throughout the regions of Trakiya.

At a time when the state paid close attention to, and had strict laws regarding the maximum and minimum amount of square meters each family owned… the apartments of Trakiya were designed by minimums.
Being as efficient as possible, the architects carefully crafted each apartment and even defined the composition of family units that were best suited for each.

“It’s like putting on a shirt that’s way too small….”
Sveti bends over to pick toys up off the ground as we enter her living room for coffee after our morning yoga class. The sun is shining in and one of their 6th floor balconies of block 73 stretches out in front of us. It overlooks an impressive view of the surrounding blocks apartments; the Rhodope mountains peeking around and in-between them.

She sighs, looking around desperately for a place to shove the toys…

“And I grew up here!!”

Her eyes are wide as she wildly motions around the room with a dump truck, her other arm occupied with stuffed friends – an elephant, a bear, and something resembling a platypus.

“Can you imagine?!”
“This was my parents’ apartment..”
“And we were four!”
“In the winters when baba would come stay with us..”
“Five!”

She lowers the dump truck to her side and her eyes narrow,

“Can you imagine?”

She glances over to the sektziya, a full wall cabinetry unit that is a panel block living room staple. It’s the kind of built-in most homeowners in America lust after, composed of a mixture of open shelves, glass cabinets and full cabinets.

Sveti’s sektziya is my favorite I’ve seen, it’s completely decked out in stickers, she tells me this is just as much her 4-year-old son’s home as it is hers. Her open shelves are full of books, ones that she tells me I will find on every shelf of every sektziya of Trakiya. Her glass cabinets are delicately decorated with old crystal, tea cups and momentos from her and Georgi’s wedding. And her closed cabinets…

She looks back at me still holding the toys.

“It never seemed small to me… But that was before they were done, there weren’t any of those big stores, and most of these blocks weren’t here, so there were just open fields everywhere. And us kids, we played in them… so I guess I was just…”

She looks back at the sektziya..

“… always outside.”

She shrugs, walks over to it, opens a closed cabinet door, and shoves the toys in. She stands back looking at the toys among cookies, perfume, a roll of duct tape, and some medications. She examines for a second longer, decides it’s good, and quickly shuts the door.

She turns back to me.

“Just… ugh….!!!”

She scrunches her face and squirms around in her baggy track suit jacket…

“A shirt that’s TOOOOOOO SMALLLLL!”

Architect defined family unit compositions:

Arhitectura-now

a sketch of Trakiya apartment plans found in the Bulgarian Architecture magazine Архитектура
v. 4, 1979.
(We think the bent figures represent Babas and Diados.)


* Muffin Tops: glassing in the balcony and adding a bit of space on either side, making the original confines of the balcony look just a tad too tight.

SVETI
I love this woman for the way she thinks. And for the way she laughs. See Sveti’s sektziya here.