International Architectural Competition for a New Academic Wing of 18. Comprehensive School "William Gladstone"

The contest is part of an overall trend toward creating a higher-quality, modern, and sustainable educational environment that combines modern architecture, innovative educational technologies, and conditions for implementing contemporary teaching methods that meet European and global standards.

Category Idea Competition
Type International, Idea, Open, Single-Stage, Anonymous
Genre School
Country Sofia, Bulgaria
RegDeadline 27 January 2027 GoogleCal iCal
1 February 2027 (via Online) GoogleCal
Eligibility Any interested party may participate, with no requirement for a specific legal or organisational form of the participants

Description
Architects and design teams from Bulgaria and around the world are invited to participate and propose their vision for the development of one of the oldest and largest schools in Bulgaria.
On October 5, an open international architectural competition is officially announced, with the goal of developing a concept design for a new academic wing at 18 Comprehensive School "William Gladstone" - one of the oldest educational institutions in Sofia. The competition aims to expand the school in order to provide opportunities for the development of educational resources and to transition students to a single-shift schedule.
The contest is part of an overall trend toward creating a higher-quality, modern, and sustainable educational environment that combines modern architecture, innovative educational technologies, and conditions for implementing contemporary teaching methods that meet European and global standards.
As an educational institution with nearly 120 years of history, 18th Comprehensive School "William Gladstone" is the largest school in Bulgaria, with more than 2,200 students from 1. to 12. grade - a community of hundreds of students, teachers, and families that continues to grow. The need to expand the school and create a modern educational environment presents a new challenge: the construction of a new academic wing, functionally connected to the existing historic building and the Bulgarian-Japanese Cultural Center, that together form a comprehensive educational complex.
The competition proposal must also include the functional organization and landscape design of the existing schoolyard, which will be reorganized in accordance with the future construction of the new school building.
The competition seeks a conceptual architectural design for a new educational building, functionally connected to the existing historic school building and the Bulgarian-Japanese Cultural Centre, together forming an integrated educational complex.
The competition entry must also include proposals for the functional reorganisation and landscaping of the existing school grounds, taking into account the future development of the new educational building.

Jury
Seven-member international jury

Prize
First Place - €30,000
Second Place - €20,000
Third Place - €10,000

Entry Fee
None

Timetable
April 16, 2027 - Announcement of the competition results

Organizer
Optimistas

Official Website