Office building, Sofia

The architects' idea was to design a building that corresponded to the idiosyncrasy of the site, a corner plot in an intensely urban environment. The 'ribbon' facade is a graphic expression of the hectic activity on the road. Its inter-folding loops change direction, twisting and bending like traffic lanes. Their dynamic character extends into the building’s interior, where their function changes from floor slab to wall or to stair, creating an unconventional office environment.

The architects also wanted to design the building as a see-through object, hence their choice of glass as the main material, even for the partitions between spaces rented by different tenants. The result is a fully glazed facade, interrupted only by the ribbon structure clad in orange Eternit. To visually increase the autonomy of the ribbons, the different parts of the facade are distinguished by the variable use of clear and translucent glass.

The sophisticated shape of the building follows the irregular plot boundary around the corner from the east facade, which faces the interchange. Because the building cannot be directly accessed from the ring road, the entrances are on the northern and southern end facades.

The ground and first floors are occupied by shops, a lobby for the office areas and a coffee lounge. The rest of the building contains rentable office space. In response to the investors' demand for greater flexibility, the second and third floors are completely open office spaces, each occupying an entire floor plate. The other seven floors contain 'duplex offices' connected by panoramic stairs that are visible behind the facade. Not to everyone's taste perhaps, but the building will no doubt attract attention with its global allure.

Which brings us back to the ribbon, which is very much 'in' as an architectural sculpting tool. Whereas Diller & Scofidio's use of the ribbon in the Eyebeam Museum of Art and Technology results in an architecture that almost overtakes the level of technical progress, Aedes' approach is to adjust it to local surroundings.