The Moscow team of architects, urbanists and experts in social and cultural design was shortlisted for the competition for a new look at Sveta Nedelya Square. This was announced by the chief architect of Moscow, Sergey Kuznetsov.

The competition was organized by the Sofia Municipality. The square around the cathedral of Sveta Nedelya is an integral part of the historically formed system of public spaces and is connected central pedestrian precincts. Attractions located nearby are the Rotunda of St. George, the Balkan Hotel, the Ministry and, of course, the cathedral of Sveta Nedelya that lent its name to the square. This church dated to the 10th century is an Eastern Orthodox Church, the Sofia Bishopric of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.

The reconstruction requires both the preservation of the cultural and spatial identity of the place, and at the same time, new public functions intended for year-round use. The shortlisted Moscow team is a consortium, which consists of AI Architects, CLAB Architettura, Yuri Sheredega, Dina Dridze, Yevgeny Shirinyan. I am sure that this team has every chance to win. In their project there is both a careful attitude to the historical heritage and interesting solutions for new functions. This competition demonstrate once again a high standard of professionalism of Russian architectural and urban planning offices, which are able to compete for victory in international competitions and recieve major architectural awards

Sergey Kusnetsov

Participants were required to be highly experienced in working with urban environment, cultural and historical heritage sites. The teams were to include architects, urbanists, heritage experts and a landscape design expert. Together with the team of Moscow professionals (AI Architects, Yuri Sheredega, Dina Dridze, Yevgeny Shirinyan) in a consortium with Italian colleagues from CLAB Architettura, 6 other international architectural offices from Italy, France and Bulgaria were included into the shortlist. It is expected that the winner will be selected at the end of November.

Shortlisted finalists:

- Consortium: OW/MA/CL with members: One Works, Maofficina, Сracknell

- Studio Paola Vigano

- Konkurent-90 EOOD

- Studio Wilmotte

- Studio Fuksas

- Consortium AI Architects LLD, CLAB Architettura, Yuri Sheredega, Dina Dridze, Yevgeny Shirinyan

- Consortium GTRF & Studio Morfe, member oft he GIOVANNI TORTELLI ROBERTO FRASSONI ARCHITETTI Association