A market is born at a crossroads – where there is a market, a city is born. The New Vision for the City Market competition is vital for the city of Pazardzhik because it will define, predetermine and chart the future of the city.
We invite you to take part, share your ideas and together renew the look of the central market of Pazardzhik. We expect solutions that will stand the test of time and add value to the development of the city!
The territory of Pazardzhik has been inhabited for millennia. Archaeological finds tell of Thracian tribes, with written records of the town’s founding dating back to the Ottoman period, when Pazardzhik was first mentioned in the late 15th century. The name PAZARDZHIK derives from the Turkish word for market and underlines the importance of the town as a commercial center. It is also known by the name BAZARICH.
The city is a living organism where past and present meet and continues to grow and inspire everyone who passes through.
The competition area is bounded between the Mineral Baths Park to the east,”Gradski pazar” str. to the west, “Saedinenie” Square to the north and the area around the Shopping Center to the south..
The Municipality of Pazardzhik will invite the winner of the competition to conclude a contract for the development of a technical and detailed investment project.
75 000 EURO excluding VAT.
| 30.05.2025 | Official announcement of the competition |
| 30.05.-05.09.2025 | Time for preparation of the overall concept and development of the project |
| 26.08.2025 | Deadline for questions |
| 01.09.2025 | Deadline for registration on the platform |
| 05.09.2025 | Deadline for submission of the projects |
| 06-11.09.2025 | Preparation for judging of the competition materials |
| 12-14.09.2025 | Jurying |
| 17.09.2025 | Announcement of the competition results |
The competition is open to all Bulgarian and foreign persons or their associations. There are no restrictive conditions. There are no financial requirements.
All participants have equal access to data, materials and information. The conditions for participation are the same and no preference is given to individual participants.
Competition procedures are clear and transparent. The merits of the entries will be assessed by an anonymous jury.
All competition entries will be evaluated by a competent, international jury, according to the criteria announced. They will only be excluded if anonymity is broken and the project omits to give a price for construction.
The competition projects will be evaluated by a panel of 7 international jury members.
BULGARIA
architect
Director of the “Architecture and Territorial Planning” Directorate at Pazardzhik Municipality.
BULGARIA
urban planner
Silvia graduated as BSc and MSc in Urban planning from the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG), Sofia, Bulgaria. She is currently enrolled as a PhD student at the Urban Planning Department in UACEG investigating the topic of walking in large cities and how we can support it through urban planning and design policies and practices. She chose this topic as she loves walking in cities and enjoys exploring them on foot. After being awarded with an AUSMIP+ scholarship in 2014 she leaves for Australia, where she spends a year at the University of Melbourne. There she investigates planning policies and design tools related to pedestrian flows and movements in the city. She also has academic specialisations at the University College Dublin (Republic of Ireland) and Technical University of Vienna (Austria). Driven by the desire to deliver high-quality projects in urban design and planning, Sylvia co-founded studio place.make
BULGARIA
architect
Panayot Savov graduated with a master’s degree in architecture in 2006 from UACEG. Between 2020 and 2023, he served as the Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs at AF, and since 2020 he has also been the head of the Department of “Public Buildings”. Over the past 20 years, he has participated in several small architectural practices and collaborations between architecture and other visual arts. Assistant Professor Savov’s academic interests are related to the morphological theory of architecture in public buildings and spaces, as well as the need for these to be defined independently, not solely by external objective values such as energy, climatic, historical, or administrative contexts. For Associate Professor Savov, architecture is an opportunity to explore new cultural and social relationships, and its high-level manifestations are primarily symbolic, artistic interventions.
GERMANY
landscape architect
and urban designer
From 2013 to 2019, he worked at architectural firms in Hamburg, Xi’an, Munich, and Frankfurt. Since 2019, he has been a research associate at the Department of Urban Planning at the University of Siegen, and since 2022, he has been in partnership with the company Lichtelandschaften. Consulting for municipalities on urban development strategies and climate adaptation concepts. Jury member for the architecture design competition [Neue Architekturschule Siegen], Siegen, Germany, 2024.
GERMANY
landscape architect
Bojana Bjelić is a German landscape architect of Serbian origin, with experience across Germany and internationally. She holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Hochschule Anhalt in Dessau and a Bachelor’s from the University of Belgrade. Her work with offices such as TOPOTEK 1 and A24 Landschaftsarchitektur has focused on urban public spaces and landscape projects of various scales across Europe and beyond. She has received recognition in design competitions and has taught at TU Braunschweig and Dessau International Architecture (DIA) Program at Hochschule Anhalt, Germany.
NETHERLANDS
architect
In 2017, Timur co–founded DROM, establishing a Rotterdam-based studio that operates on an international stage. Timur is responsible for leading various scale architectural projects, master-plans and public space design projects, including the Sobinco Industrial Campus in Zulte, the Port Van Praet residential district competition in Brussels, and the transformation of Azatlyk Square in Naberezhnye Chelny.
Timur’s practice is shaped by his experience at the Institute of the Contemporary Urban Project in Mendrisio, OMA Rotterdam and KCAP (Kees Christiaanse Architects and Planners). Timur extends his engagement with architecture through teaching and invited critique at TU Delft’s Faculty of Urbanism and Architecture.
RESERVE MEMBERS
BULGARIA
architect
Maria Badeva earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Manchester and completed a master’s degree in architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, in London. She represented the University of Manchester in a collaborative architectural design project with the Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, China, where she worked on a project for the transformation of the Harbin train station, which was awarded second prize by the Union of Architects of China and the British Council’s Education Sector. In 2015, she was a scholarship holder at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. She has practiced with the Team London Bridge team and at the Dutch studio MVRDV in Rotterdam, in the strategic planning department. In 2019, her project for the regeneration of Fort de Villiers, Noisy-le-Grand in Paris won first place in the “Cultural and Historic Heritage of the City” category at the national “The City” Academy competition.
BULGARIA
architect
Boyko Stolinchev has many years of experience in urban planning and investment design. Architect Stolinchev is a former deputy chairman of the Bulgarian Chamber of Architects (KAB), served two terms as chairman of the KAB – Regional Chamber of Pazardzhik, and is a recipient of the “Honorary Sign of the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria” for contributions to the architectural profession in 2022. Over the years, he has worked on issues related to the space around the city market in Pazardzhik, and he is the author of the project for the roofing structures above the market.
BULGARIA
urban designer and planner
Nurhan graduated with a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia, Bulgaria. His passion for urban form and public space took him to Washington University in St. Louis, USA where he graduated a Master of Urban Design program after being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. He completed his education in the US with a summer design studio, studying global urbanism(s) both in Tokyo and Shanghai. Additionally he specializes in University College Dublin (Republic of Ireland). With his work Nurhan tries to re-think existing built environment and infrastructure as not only simply serving a use, but as a backbone of culturally sensitive public spaces that are truly civic. Nurhan co-founded studio place.make due to his desire to offer high-quality projects in urban design and planning.
BULGARIA
architect
Galina Baleva-Hristova was born in Plovdiv and is a graduate of the Mathematical High School “Academik Kiril Popov.” In 2001, she graduated from UACEG in the studio of Prof. Dr. Arch. Stefan Popov, in the department of “Public Buildings,” and in the same year, she founded the architectural studio E-Arch together with Arch. Martin Hristov. Over the years, the studio has built a rich portfolio of residential, public, and industrial buildings in the country and abroad. They are recipients of numerous prestigious awards, including “Building of the Year,” the Varna Award, two nominations for EUmies Awards, Architizer A+Awards – winner, German Design Awards, A’ Design Awards, BigSEE Awards, Iconic Awards, Infrastructure Bulgaria Awards, and others.
