To appreciate the selection of the site for the proposed Varna Regional library, an island site with street and plaza frontage to the south west of the existing Varna Pencho Slaveykov Central Library, allows one to better understand the social importance placed on libraries, and as a consequence the importance that this building will hold in the social tapestry of Varna. From man’s first appearance he has
been obsessed with recording, events, observations, thoughts, inspirations, stories, and desires in both word and image. Humanity is preoccupied with informing, educating, communicating with future generations, for the betterment of society.

Our proposal in a small way pays homage to humanity’s obsession with knowledge, both physical and spiritual. The public interface with the building in form is expressed as one may imagine a piece of freshly made vellum or parchment placed casually on a writing desk in preparation for use but not lying quite flat as it is interrupted by an objet d’art, a bauble that you might find on any desk. The podium structure organically connects with the plaza providing both artificial landscape and build form that effortlessly and non-confrontationally interfaces with humanity and daily activity. The constant flow of people could be likened to ink or paint flowing
both over and under this structure recording individual points in space, moments in time.

The transformation from the literal to the imaginary and the metaphysical is the intended experience as the user ascends through the central library stacks. The seemingly endless ramped ascent to the heavens within a translucent cloud-like form floating in space provides the scaffold for the journey of the individual in search of information. On enlightenment the concluding descending journey of the individual is balanced by an inner descending ramp. The opposing, yin-yan like ramps allowing humanity to ascend to unimaginable heights of dreaming, knowledge and discovery while protectively anchoring firmly to earth and reality.

Our proposal for the new Varna Regional Library is a dream, a fantasy, and a fiction. It is the light, the soft, the gentle, the fragrent juxtaposed to brutalism of the existing Varna Pencho Slaveykov Central Library. It is an analogy, it is an anthology, and most
importantly it is an algorithm for individual and humanity in search the wonder of life and living.