Мeeting the architect Professor Zheko Tilev

About the sports hall under construction in Sofia and the way he received the job

A After the next one in a number of failed architectural competitions organized by the Ministry of Sports and severely criticized by architects, a bid under the Public Procurement Act was announced under a well-known scenario – for the main contractor of the sports hall. How were you selected as author of the project?
ZT As far as the first competition is concerned, I am not associated with it and I cannot give any opinion. Apart from my purely professional estimation – it truly brought about no results. The participating three projects were not at the necessary level.
A This is understandable to a certain extent, in view of the deadlines and the restrictions which practically excluded the participation of Bulgarian architects.
ZT The reasons might be most varied, but it is not about the qualities of the project, related to completeness, technical issues and aspects. In my opinion, there were no avant-garde architectural ideas, and deadlines are not so crucial for good ideas. I was invited by Glavbolgarstroy to present some preliminary designs, and later on, after comparing them to what their design team had prepared, the three suggestions of the initial competition and some other possibilities, they decided that my project would be the most successful one. That is how I entered this competition. I prepared the project within 22 days.

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