2015-2019 · PRODUCT DESIGNER · REAL-TIME ARTIST
The Buzludzha Monument was built in the 1970s and used to serve as the headquarters of the Bulgarian communist party. However, in November 1989, Bulgaria ceased to be a communist state and the building was promptly closed down. After years of disuse and with no further maintenance, the abandoned structure began to deteriorate and suffer from acts of vandalism.
Thanks to the building’s unusual design and unique location, it did not take long for Buzludzha to become one of Europe’s most iconic abandoned sites. It continuously attracts urban explorers from all around the world.
Buzludzha VR is an immersive virtual reality experience that allows players to discover the abandoned UFO-shaped brutalist legend Buzludzha and its surrounding landscape. In addition to learning about the monument's history, players can immerse themselves in fun activities such as playing the fully-interactive grand piano, flying a helicopter around the structure, juggling with muffins or climbing the 70m high tower.
The experience is both educational and entertaining and pushes the limits of interaction and real-time graphics in virtual reality.
Buzludzha VR started out in early 2015 as a joint project between Rafal Czarnowski and me. The initial idea was to create a real-time architectural visualisation of the Buzludzha monument that suggests a new purpose for the abandoned megastructure and raise awareness about its current state.
We travelled on-site to the monument to capture essential reference photographs and to experience first-hand the size and scale of the structure. We took several spatial measurements to aid our design and development process.
We launched the first conceptual version of the project in May 2016 and successfully restarted the discussion around the restoration of the monument in Bulgaria.
The project was met with a positive reception from across Bulgarian media, the public and Buzludzha's original architect - Georgi Stoilov. Buzludzha VR was featured on some of the biggest Bulgarian TV channels, magazines and newspapers.
We restarted work on the project towards the end of 2018 after a growing number of requests to add support for more VR headsets and include even more interactivity. Over the following year, we rebuilt the experience from the ground up and focused our attention on areas such as:
Overall user experience and mechanics
Quality of real-time graphics
Storytelling
Expansion of all explorable environment
Performance improvements
Extra layer of interactivity
Throughout the development phase, we frequently tested work-in-progress builds of the VR experience at events around the UK, Germany and Bulgaria. Thanks to the invaluable feedback we received and the observations we made during the testing sessions, we could continue improving the spatial user experience and accessibility of the product.
In November 2019, 30 years after the fall of communism in Bulgaria, we officially released Buzludzha VR on the Steam Store.
Research
3D asset modeling
Texturing & Material Creation
Environment Lighting
3D Asset Optimisation
Storytelling
User Journey Mapping
User Interface Implementation
Spatial Design
Usability Testing
Unreal Engine 4
Autodesk 3Ds Max
Substance Painter
Substance Designer
Figma
Photoshop
Illustrator
Ora
Steam VR
Oculus
Windows Mixed Reality
Discover Europe’s most iconic abandoned structure in VR
"The experience is immersive and informative from start to finish with many excellently voiced information points and translations that really make your journey through the structure in its reimagined form interesting and engaging. The attention to detail is a testament to the passion behind this project and provides incentive to thoroughly inspect every nook and cranny of the structure for things to see and do."
Steam User
"This is your only chance to experience the Buzludzha as it no longer exists in its original state. Top-notch graphics, it must have taken a ton of research and work to model it. All the history and text is narrated really well. Plus detailed toilet interactions you'd never expect like lifting the seat, flushing, washing and drying your hands. The climbing and helicopter flying is icing on the cake."
Steam User
"I wish there was a series like this in VR. Exploring abandoned buildings while learning about how they used to be before being left to rot. I had literally no interest in this building before finding this, but this was still an interesting and unique experience. Seriously, I cannot stress how much I'd love a series like this with this level of detail and interactivity."
Steam User
"This VR Tour gave me something more to experience about the country and their history, and worked lovely as a complement. I've spent 105 min in one session exploring every nook, listen to every detail and thinking about its past as I would have made in real life. At moments it felt like I was there, the attention to detail is superb in both atmosphere and mechanics wise."
Steam User