Practical urban furniture presented by the students from the Projection Studio at UASG, created for the BLD initiative - Building Difference
The first edition of the initiative brought together the ideas of architecture students, citizens and experts to create new shared spaces in several inter-block spaces in the Lozenets district
After analyses of the neighborhood, hard preparation and designing, students from the Projection Studio at UASD will present the prototypes of urban furniture they have made for the Lozenets neighborhood on August 30 at 6 pm in the courtyard of UASD. The project is part of Building Difference, BLD's social-educational platform that aims to improve the urban environment near the company's investment projects. The project is developed on the placemaking principle, bringing together the opinions, inspiration and potential of the local community, professionals, active organizations, students and institutions. Currently, all the prototypes of the built furniture are installed in the backyard of UASG, where citizens can view them, find out more about the project and give their feedback before the furniture is installed in the selected locations.
Building Difference kicked off in April with an open discussion on "Contemporary Urban Interventions" that included students, BLD, UASG faculty, experts with urban experience, and interested citizens. Between May and July, an analysis of the neighborhood and identification of problem areas were made by the students. In July, an open informal discussion was organized with the local community where students presented their ideas for improving the environment in 4 locations in the neighborhood. Taking into account the feedback of the local community and the results of the analysis of the locations, 2 inter-block spaces were selected, locked between Yakubitsa, Krichim and Persenk streets, where the students carried out cleaning and securing in the period from 23 to 26 July.
The project was implemented with the voluntary work of the students and the people of the neighbourhood, and its funding and coordination was provided by BLD and supported by the Lozenets district. The first edition of the initiative enters the official educational curriculum of the first-year students in the Architecture major at UASG. As of now, work on the project is continuing with a broad public consultation initiated by Studio Projection and supported by the Lozenets District. The aim is to gather final feedback from the district administration and the local community before installing the equipment in September.
The Building Difference initiative is aimed at creating a more aesthetic and functional environment through small actions to improve public and shared spaces in different Sofia neighbourhoods. In this way, the company tries to activate local communities and municipal administration for follow-up initiatives and active maintenance and use of shared spaces.