Architectural Competition for the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art
Dezeen Competitions: this competition tasks designers and architects with proposing a vision to convert a 70s textile school in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, into a new contemporary art centre.
The former textile school has high, spacious halls and a deep connection to fabrics – one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's signature materials.
Organiser: Gabrovo Municipality in partnership with the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art
Competition: Architectural Competition for the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art: Adaptive Reuse of the Former Textile Technical School in Gabrovo
Judges:
- Andreas Ruby, architecture theorist, teacher, book publisher and exhibition curator
- Aneta Vasileva, architect, architecture critic, and historian
- Bostjan Vuga, architect, researcher, educator, and editor
- Erich Schoenenberger, architect and educator
- Lutsia Dekova, architect
- Martin Hristov, architect
- Vasif Kortun, curator, writer and teacher
- Hristo Stankushev, architect and educator (alternate juror)
Submission deadline: 20 July 2026
First stage winner announcement: 10 August 2026
Prizes: the open, anonymous conceptual phase awards €20,000 prizes (excluding VAT) to the top five, followed by a negotiated second stage granting a €1 million design contract (excluding VAT) for the detailed investment project
Competition overview
This competition aims to breathe new life into a 1970 textile school on the left bank of the Yantra River. Built to serve the educational needs of Gabrovos's leading industry, the site closed in 2008 as textile production declined.
The building has been chosen to house the new art centre, due to its excellent condition, high and spacious halls. It also has a profound link to fabrics – one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's signature materials.
The competition tasks designers to take part in this two-stage quest to reinvent the space.
The open, anonymous conceptual phase awards €20,000 prizes (excluding VAT) to the top five, followed by a negotiated second stage granting a €1 million design contract (excluding VAT) for the detailed investment project, including interiors, permanent exhibitions, and author's supervision.
With a construction budgeted at €11.26 million (excluding VAT), this transformation will weave a 2,737 square metre footprint, 13,330 square metre total built-up area, and 9,000 square metre yard into a harmonious cultural nexus alongside the Museum of Humour and Satire.
Eligibility and judging criteria
The first phase is anonymous and open to all architects with previous experience in designing public buildings.
Submissions for phase one must comprise anonymous conceptual proposals, which include up to five PDF panels and a textual description. Specific details can be found on the competition's website.
Strict compliance with EU procurement rules ensures transparency and fairness.
The jury seeks visionary designs that excel in:
- functionality and usability (30 points)
- architectural design quality (30 points)
- sustainability (20 points)
- feasibility (20 points)
- financial value (5 points)
How to enter
All information about the competition is published on the competition's website.
Submissions are made through the Bulgarian public procurement site.
Submission deadlines
The deadline for submitting conceptual designs on the Centralised Automated Information System for Electronic Public Procurement (CAIS EPP) platform is 20 July 2026.
The first five projects in the ranking to receive awards will be announced on 10 August 2026.
Announcement of the second stage: a negotiation procedure without prior notice; invitations to take part are the five awarded projects in the previous stage on 23 August 2026.
The deadline for submitting offers (containing design development) in the negotiation procedure is 23 October 2026.
Announcement of the winner of the design contract will be on 10 November 2026. Submission of the detailed investment project (construction documents) will be on 25 March 2027.
The final deadline for completing renovation, construction, furnishing, equipping, and implementation of the permanent exhibition projects is October 2028.
About Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art
Christo's native Gabrovo is spearheading the rebirth of a former textile school into the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art – a beacon of creativity honouring the artists' legacy of monumental yet intimate, ephemeral works.
The centre will fuse exhibition halls with artist studios, workshops for diverse materials and media, a textile library, a book library, a co-working space, event spaces, artist-in-residence studios, a café, a restaurant, and inviting public areas, igniting inspiration for artists and the wider public alike.
Emerging from a civic initiative in 1992 and developed through wide public dialogue since 2017, the Center has already become a regional flagship project.
All photographs are by Marin Kafedjiiski
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