TRENDAFIL KONSTANTINOV TRENDAFILOV, UN ARCHITETTO BULGARO DI FORMAZIONE ITALIANA
Trendafil Konstantinov Trendafilov, a Bulgarian Architect and an Italian University Graduate

Summary/Abstract: At the beginning of the 20th century the second generation of Bulgarian engineers and architects followed in the footsteps of the first one, which was already successfully cooperating with foreign architects and spatial planners in pursuing the task of radically transforming the oriental look of Bulgarian cities. Trendafil K. Trendafilov (1876 – 1956), who acquired his degree in Turin in 1901, belonged to that generation and along with it he challenged the excessive functionality of architecture, its rationalism and geometricity. The Viennese urban planner Camille Sitte and Ebenezer Howard, the theoretician of the garden city idea, were his major inspirers. In time he became the main Bulgarian theoretician of the modern city. Although he followed closely the arguments on urban planning and architecture outside Bulgaria, Trendafilov emphasized that designs and solutions should not be copied and that they should be consistent with local specifics. He was the most zealous opponent to the urban plan of Adolf Muesman, who would later try to destroy the most vital part of the Bulgarian capital city. Indeed, the Sofia community, which opposed this plan, was supported by such an outstanding specialist as Mr. Trendafilov.

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