Car Free Hill Towns

Foster + Partners is working on the Black Sea Gardens, a sustainable community in Byala, Bulgaria which will be most noted for its car-free philosophy. The project consists of a five small towns in the seaside resort town in Northeastern part of the country.

“A series of car free hill towns in an unspoilt setting of oak forests, meadows and river gorges, the development will create a year-round community for up to 15,400 residents,” Foster + Partner says of the project. “The residential clusters are tightly packed and integrated into the contours of the landscape, preserving the majority of the site as virgin terrain.”

The gallery shows a series of flat-roofed buildings staggered along stair-paved hills, beautiful cafes overlooking the waterfront and flora-covered surfaces like rooftops and balconies.

“Anchored by a 220-berth marina and with a lakeside spa, activity centre, sports park, restaurants and shops, Black Sea Gardens will become a key leisure destination,” World Architecture News says. “The five hill towns are characterised by the nature of their immediate surroundings - to create a 'Sky Village', a 'Wilderness Village', a 'Meadow Village', a 'Cape Village' and the 'Sea Village' by the marina.”

It's an absolutely incredible design and looks more like a luxurious resort town in the South of France than how a foreigner might imagine Bulgaria to look. With the design genius of Foster + Partners, this is sure to be a truly stunning, architectural gem.

Construction was set to begin in 2008, but a completion date has yet to be announced.