The project examines the topic of cultural heritage and its implementation in nowadays reality, within the specific situation of the villages in Natural Park Strandzha. Strandzha is the only Natural Park in Bulgaria with settlements inside its borders. Tourism has been, through the years, the general mean of living for the region. The project aims to research its potentials and develop a strategy for the most complex area – Stoilovo village.
Stoilovo is one of the oldest villages in Strandzha, where we find preserved examples of the specific Strandzha house – a monument of cultural heritage. Yet, most have been abandoned and the cultural landscape is to vanish from the territory.
The project proposes an alternative approach towards the requirments of tourism – the concept of a diffuse hotel, through the restoration and adaptation of abandoned houses. It incorporates a community center, a new building interpreting local construction traditions, that provides various types of activities and a meeting place for both locals and tourists.
To do so, a detailed research on the specifics of the Strandzha house has been done. Of all the housing in Stoilovo, 14 abandoned houses have been outlined, as valuable from architectural and historical point of view. The project proposes two examples of the restoration and adaptation of houses in the center of the village, as well as the development of the community center, which is to play a core function for both the hotel and the village itself.
