Excerpt: EOS By STARH, in Varna, Bulgaria is a mixed-use building. The site being close to the Black Sea enjoys the morning Sun first. The triangular plot governs the shape of the building floorplate, but being a largely residential structure, an ingrained orthogonality for the interior spaces has been incorporated. The façade materials are chosen to guarantee long life, easy maintenance with low energy costs, as well as high living comfort – aluminum windows, highly selective glazing, and fiber cement ventilated façade.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] For the project EOS in Varna, Bulgaria, STARH mentions the Greek mythological story of EOS – the goddess of the dawn. Every morning she rose to the horizon from the depths of the sea to spread the light of the day to people. The project, named after the goddess, is situated at the front line in Chaika, in the city that is the marine capital of Bulgaria – Varna. With only the Sea Garden and the Black Sea situated in front of it, the building becomes the first one that receives sunlight.
The main challenge was to create a design that could be appropriated in the restrictive triangle-shaped plot, which is the datum for its shape in plan and its distinctive spatial-volume structure. The white exterior and the horizontality of the elements were not only the studio’s manner of work but also in cohesion with the looks of the buildings in the locality. The end result is a building that has a distinguishable silhouette and is open to various associations and interpretations.
EOS has a mainly residential program, the apartments are located from the fourth floor to the last, ninth floor. The ground level accommodates the shops, the entrance foyer, and the car lift for the two underground levels for car parking. The second and third floors accommodate ateliers and offices. A staircase and two lifts provide vertical interaction.
Functionally, the apartments were designed in a way that allows all of the inner spaces to have orthogonal forms. Only the Eastern loggias have a triangular layout.
A construction challenge was the prestressed concrete balconies in the sharp part of the building, reaching up to 8 meters in length on the upper floors. EOS is a building where It was thought not only of aesthetics and functionality but of the building’s longevity, as well. The façade materials are chosen to guarantee long life, easy maintenance with low energy costs, as well as high living comfort – aluminum windows, highly selective glazing, and fiber cement ventilated façade.
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