Studio Fuksas have won a competition to redevelop Sveta Nedelya Square in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a design that complements a celebration of the square's history with carefully integrated high-tech canopies.

The square covers an area of 34,000sq m (366,000sq ft) and has a 10th-century church, Sveta Nedelya Church, at its centre.

A second-century Roman archaeological site with a tavern, shops and plumbing infrastructure, meanwhile, sits below the square.

Studio Fuksas intend to protect the ruins and cover them with walkable glass so as to showcase them to passersby and visitors to the square.

The remainder of the square will be split into a public park and a paved area, designed to encourage social interaction and connections.

There will be places to sit, while a forest of rose-shaped canopies – recalling the Bulgarian national flower – will provide shade, generate solar power during the day and light the square at night.

The project is scheduled to be break ground in 2021 and be completed in 2023.