The Municipality of Gabrovo, Bulgaria, has opened an international architectural competition for the adaptive reuse of a former textile technical school into the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art, located in Christo’s hometown on the banks of the Yantra River.

The competition runs in two stages. The first is an open, anonymous conceptual design phase; the five finalists will each receive EUR 20,000. The second phase requires design development over two months, with the winner awarded a design contract worth up to EUR 1,000,000.

The building covers a gross floor area of 13,300 m2 with a 9,000 m2 courtyard. The program includes permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, artists’ studios and residencies, workshops, an Institute for Art in Public Space, libraries, coworking, and hospitality. The design must embody the spirit of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art, preserve the memory of the school building, and connect the complex to the river and surrounding public spaces.

The jury includes Andreas Ruby (former director, Swiss Architecture Museum), Aneta Vasileva (architect and architecture historian, Sofia), Bostjan Vuga (co-founder, SADAR+VUGA), Erich Schoenenberger (Pratt Institute; su11 Architecture + Design), Vasif Kortun (curator and founder of SALT), Martin Hristov (co-founder, E-ARCH), and Lutsia Dekova (Chief Architect, Municipality of Gabrovo).