Lipnik Boulevard Roundabout

Infrastructure Bulgaria Awards 2016 – First prize in the ” Urban Environment” category special prize for architectural impact

In 2014 we received an invitation from our colleagues from “Ingconsult Project” to join a consortium to design a roundabout. Our expectations were that the task was to develop  projects for the paths and the gardens within the inside circumference of the roundabout. However, as we moved deeper into the project,  we discovered that we had much more freedom to make more fundamental changes to the environment  and thereby solve some problems. The first task we set ourselves was to avoid breaking the green strip between the two lanes of Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard: this was used by the local citizens as a park and as a pleasant walking route to the Danube River  This strip is not wide, but the pedestrian walkways are separated  from the road by a green area of tall trees, benches and even sculptures: this route is used by those on foot and by cyclists.

In order to achieve our objective, we decided to build an underpass below the roundabout as smoothly as possible by constructing  two ramps (for pedestrians and for cyclists) with attractive contours to emphasize the feeling of a park. The other important pedestrian axis connects the new sports hall and a small town square which includes a garden. In this case we have chosen a different, more orthogonal concept. We have broadened the staircase as much as possible and integrated a ramp for disabled people. Our first aim was to accommodate the large groups of people who occasionally gather for sporting events, and secondly we aimed to make it tier extension of the two squares so that at other times, the space could then  used for recreation and even more, for performances. In this axis our development was restricted  by an large existing  underground collector that determined the shape of the staircase in front of the sports hall.