

VELIKO
TARNOVO
EXPO CENTER
Project type: Exposition Center
Location: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Client: Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo
Project leader: Petr Obraztsov
Project team: Leandro Soares, Jacques Ligot, Belverence Tameu, Kalina Kiperova
Urban Design: Orchestra Design
Surface built : 8 950 m²
Status: Competition entry
Expo Center is the founding stone of the new urban center of Veliko Tarnovo, a platform to shape the new districts’ future. The building is a modular set of possibilities for various events ranging from congresses and concerts to exhibitions and fairs. It consists of two distinct parts: the first –- expo center with its halls and the second - administration and ateliers spaces articulated around patio. The entrance hall of the building is articulated between compressed spaces and tall vertical openings which distribute the building up to the top. The main event hall is a multifunctional space that can work as a whole or be separated in a set of 3, 4 or 6 independent spaces according to needs. This is achieved thanks to movable walls that also provide sound and solar isolation, they are stored long of structural walls. In case of fairs or exhibitions all seats can be dismantled and stocked down the hall in order to let the space be as much flexible as needed.The ateliers under administration an addition to the required program which propose to orient the center around various educational facilities in connection with the university and the new district: flexible ateliers and classrooms, spaces which can support new youth entrepreneurial projects and informal communities in the eld of contemporary art and crafts. The expo center culminates with a panoramic restaurant and a terrace. The roof is an extension of the landscape aiming to make the building participate in the everyday life of Veliko Tarnovo’s citizens, to become a new type of public space.

general district axonometry

master plan

building axonomotry






main hall section with balconies
patio/main hall/restaurant/circulation section




