Field specialists and investors gathered at an international architectural forum, held in Sofia on September 18 and 19 at the Sheraton Hotel.

The event, the first of its kind, stimulated dialogue and exchange of ideas, as well as gave the opportunity for various Bulgarian and European architectural studios to highlight their achievements.

Divided into four themes, Sofia Architecture Week (SAW) 2008, tabled issues such as sustainable architecture and urban revival, commercial space as public space and transitions in south-eastern Europe.

"The big question many investors ask themselves is why invest in architects, when they behave like artists who do not seem to care about unprofitability," Dominique Lyon of du Besset-Lyon architects urbanistes studio in Paris, asked amid murmurs from the audience. He advised developers to invest in specific products to encourage diversity, because many professionals around the world settle for the same easy patterns.

Speaking of sustainable architecture, Lyon showed examples illustrating how his studio was applying the concept. Their buildings were constructed mainly with glass, and had soft, simple shapes.

"This is not a building any more," he said, "it is an urban structure that is open, lit and liberating," and added that throughout the project renewable energy sources were a constant consideration.

Bulgarian architect Petar Tornyov from the Sofia studio + architecture took the audience through the various stages of developing local practices in the transitional period. He compared the period to the early years of change after 1989, when Bulgarian society's values altered with the new lifestyle. There were some negative tendencies, such as the push to fill in every available plot of land. Beginning 2003, Bulgaria experienced unprecedented investment activities. High-speed development did not leave enough time for architects to work longer on their projects, Tornyov said. He added that clear evidence of this was the incredible number of "copy-paste" buildings in every city. He showed a slide of a Black Sea hotel as an illustration of frenetic development - bizarre design and air conditioners hanging on the facade being some of the features. Tornyov attributed the trend to lack of municipal and state building control, as well as inadequate planning.

"Sustainable architecture involves aesthetic, environmental, social, political and moral factors," the architect said. "City planning is desperately needed and I understand that the question is often being politicised, but that is the only way to reach people."

Virtually the same issues were raised by Constantin Goagea, a Romanian architect and editor of Arhitectura Magazine. He referred to Bucharest as a rare combination featuring "the beauty and the beast at once;" as being "a marriage between dictatorship era and ugliness;" and "a concrete Frankenstein." Goagea talked about the traffic congestion Sofia is experiencing, the lack of pedestrian areas, the boroughs with concrete blocks and ravaged city parks.

"But Bucharest also has small pockets with beautiful buildings in French eclectic style and Art Deco," Goagea said, explaining that he found the two cities similar in atmosphere.

"Here you also have problems with the management of public spaces. The role of authorities is unclear when it comes to protecting the public interest, because they do not know how to negotiate the city; they do not ask anything in return from investors such as the cultivating of a small park or repairing the infrastructure."

Other participants in SAW 2008 were Petar Dikov, chief architect of Sofia, Tania Concko, a city planner from Amsterdam, Ivan Kucina, an architect from Belgrade, Serbia, among others.