This house in Boyana turned out to be the new residence of the Norwegian ambassador in Bulgaria. Which calmed down fairly quickly our bewilderment what such a building was doing next to so “grand” neighbours. The house has been recently completed and there is still no one living there.

What makes it different from everything around?

• its simple shape
• its aged wooden cladding (as if reused or taken from the casing of the concrete elements) which counters boldly the shiny new neighbours
• the huge overhanging of one of the volumes
• the U-shaped layout of the house
• the carefully designed flat roof (covered with wood to match the facade) only for the reason that it is visible from the upper street
• the carefully designed details in general
• the stone masonry of the fence

The official entrance to the house. Representative rooms are situated in huge overhanging.

The aged wooden cladding changes its pattern. At some places it looks incomplete. The guard told us that the Norwegians were not happy with the execution.

The house from above. Very interesting roof, despite Bulgarian prejudice that wood is not suitable for external use unless hidden under overhanging, detached from the ground at least 1.20 m, polished, treated, used only at vertical surfaces and better all the above together.

The entrance to the residential rooms. Metal shutters are hidden in wooden boxes from the same material as the facade.

The U-shaped layout forms an internal courtyard.

The representative rooms facing the internal court. Here the overhanging is at ground level.

The fence has a beautiful, simple stone masonry, unusual for this part of the world. From the inside there are already strings for vegetation to grow.

Detail from the roof.

The bad thing is that neighbours are too close. And are always in sight.

One bewilderment still remains though. How come that the Norwegians build such a residence and at the same time provide funding for such a misunderstanding as the Sofia Museum of Contemporary Art. Please, do compare.

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Found by: Plamen Todorov. Photos by: Hristo and Nikolay. With the kind assistance of the guard.

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