PROEKTTA STUDIO: THE BENEFITS OF SYNERGY AND COLLABORATION

This is what happened to architects Tanya Mitakeva and Andrey Arnaudov, who met for the first time as employees in an office. They were colleagues for a while, after which they took different career paths, still keeping in touch with each other. After gaining enough experience and a critical mass of ideas, they met again and decided to try to collaborate. The decision to establish Proektta Studio proved to be the right one, leading to fruitful collaboration and award-winning projects.

The two architects have different professional backgrounds – Tanya Mitakeva has worked in the field of investment design with a focus on preserving the cultural heritage, and Andrey Arnaudov is experienced in architecture projects of any scale – from interior design to private houses and large residential and office buildings. United by the same mission, they put their talents into contextual top-class architecture projects that cannot remain unnoticed.

How did you come up with the idea to join forces?

Our career paths crossed at a company, where we were colleagues. We basically worked in the same office for a period of time, then our paths diverged, and we kept working for different companies in search of the best fit until we gained sufficient experience to go independent. We had accumulated both professional experience and impressions. Eventually, there was this simultaneous impulse and desire to try to make something on our own. This is how the idea to collaborate was born.

Amara Sugar Hotel

Having diverse experience and expertise helps a lot in our work because we complement each other with what everyone is good at. The fact that we are a man and a woman with different tempers and a different approach is also an advantage that makes communication with a broad range of clients much easier.

In 2021 your project Gentle House IV won a special award in the Building of the Year competition. Would you tell us more about it?

Gentle House IV is the follow-up of a series of previous projects in the same region and with the same investor, with whom we have been working for years. As it was with the previous projects, here we also had very intensive feedback from the client and constant adaptations in the design process. We paid great attention to the details, which were constructed after hard collaborative work with the whole team, engaged with the projects. The choice of materials was a result of a lengthy and careful selection process, as the buildings are part of an existing context.

ARTIUM - center for culture and education

The culture and education centre Artium in the town of Nessebar also received a prestigious award. What are the features of this building?

Artium is a modern centre for culture and education. When we started the project, we realised that there are only a few contemporary multifunctional buildings for culture in Bulgaria. This made our task extremely difficult in all stages of the process. The project is a three-element complex – a car park, a square and a building, which are functionally and meaningfully connected. In 2018 the building was awarded a Building of the Year prize in the relevant category.

Gentle House IV

What was interesting for you as professionals working on the Hotel Amara Sugar project?

Hotel Amara Sugar was a challenge to our team because we wanted to create memorable architecture, avoiding the typical Sunny Beach “seaside hotel”. The investor gave us the freedom to experiment with visible concrete and encouraged our idea of a simple façade with bold balconies, shaping the character of the building. For us, it was a valuable project, because we had the opportunity to design and realise the building from the sketch to the curtains in the interior.

What types of projects are you focused on?

We are now focused on the construction of high-class houses. We are working in close partnership with our clients and trying to create top-quality architecture, which meets all requirements and fits within the context.

House K+M

Which is the newest professional challenge for Proektta Studio?

We have been working on several small house residential complexes. The most challenging thing is to be recognisable without repeating the same design and working model. It is easy to slip into repetition because clients like our work and often want the same things they have seen on our website. But we are trying to stand for our principles, rediscover our style and stick to the architecture we want to do.

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