Situated in the large fun park in the suburbs of Sofia, Radionica Arhitekture's proposal for the Collider Activity Center, which won one of five first prizes, is a small artificial 'mountain'. When external conditions are favorable, the facade opens and the internal atmosphere becomes external. The second layer is the hall, a kind of a "cytoplasm". The space between the façade and the climbing surface.This is the place of entrance, where the building and the park mix, the site of overlapping where all paths intersect. More images and architects' description after the break.
In it's surroundings, it is an 'island mountain' or Uluru as Australian natives called the large lonely red stone in his desert. To the Aborigines Uluru is a holy place and they never climb on it. Our 'island mountain', let us call it Uluru 2 for the time being, has exactly the opposite function. It's purpose is to be climbed constantly.
Therefore it has got a glass umbrella in order to be functional while heavy rain or snow falling. At night when the area under the umbrella is light upon by spotlights, this little mountain or big rock is transformed into a lighthouse visible from all over Sofia.
But, this is still not a "meteor", but a building. It's three basic layers are open in front of us like when you are peeling off an onion. The first, outer layer is the "envelope", the glass façade. That is the raincoat which protects climbers from extreme weather conditions like extreme cold or heat, rain, snow, strong wind and sun.
Here, people come to climb the building or just hang around on the terraces of the "stone roof" and watch others climb. The third, the inner layer is the "core", composed of specialized spaces linked by elevators and stairs from the restaurant at the bottom to the bar on the top.
At certain places these assemblies bridge the hall and exit on the facade in order to allow the visitors or employees natural lighting, ventilation, or just a look outside.
Architects: Radionica Arhitekture
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Project Team: Fani Frkovic, Vedrana Ivanda, Domagoj Ivanovic, Bruno Kostanic, Iva Pejic, Goran Rako, Josip Sabolic
Status: Competition / one of 5 1st prizes
Plot Floor Area: 22,220 m2
Gross Area: 9,000 m2
Year: 2013
