EVENT: ARCHITECTS AT A STREET STAND (build with our own labour after cleaning the site)
DATE: 09.05. 2009г.
PLACE: WOMEN MARKET – София
PERSONAGES: Group of young architects, citizens, customers at the market, sellers and the police organs
AIM: Attracting public attention to the “Women market” zone, discussing the positive and negative sides of urban environment, getting good ideas for solving the problems and transforming the market into a desirable for visiting place. WOMEN MARKET is one of the oldest and big street markets in Bulgaria and one of the least functioning in Europe. It is set in a very sensitive city zone – a part of the old town, in spite of the proximity of the commercial center, the market is surrounded by urban tissue from the beginning of the 20th century in a very poor condition. The zone is identified by numerous small shops, owned and managed by various nationalities, which makes it unique for the city.
At the 9th of May, the visitors of the “Women market” were provoked by a street stand, made with our own hands from wrapping cassettes. Architects with white vests were fussing behind it, offering architecture.
The reason to be there beside the vegetable sellers is the desire for TRANSFORMATION – the market and the historical quarter around it to convert into a beautiful place: during the day – well- arranged, clean and tidy market, by night – a place for meetings and social contacts of young people and artists.
“Bending” the architecture to a street stand, the architects-sellers activate the people, provoke and attitude towards the urban environment and its problems. Giving an example how with minimum resources and efforts, but with ideas and desire the environment might be improved, the architects with vests transformed a heap of old and unused cassettes into a stand with attractive design. They were cleaning, putting together, “selling”, communicating with everyone, having fun and gathering god ideas for the market. The passers-by were overactive, feeling that something depends on them – filling in questionnaires, expressing an opinion for the condition and future of the market, involving in the cleaning, looking at architectural magazines and the improvised exhibition “The markets at the world” and were fretting: “It seems the just like ours, but well-arranged and clean!
Action “Architects at a street stand” is the first of a series of actions, dedicated to interesting and problematic places of the urban environment of Sofia.
ARCHITECTS:
Augustina Veleva
Anna Kalinova
Valeri Giurov
Vania Valkova
Delcho Delchev
Martin Angelov
Todor Atanasov
With the support of Plus architecture
REPORTS
Magazine “One”
Sgrada.com
Provocad
Morphocode