Boulderland was Walltopia’s first home-gym – a bouldering gym in a shopping mall, in the home town of Sofia, Bulgaria built in 2013. Boulderland’s mission was to introduce climbing to the masses and help increase its popularity in the country where sport climbing was ages behind western Europe at that time. Its design was space-themed as a visual attraction. Here’s more to its story.
Despite Bulgaria being the home to the world leader in climbing wall manufacture, indoor climbing does not boast a ton of popularity in the country compared to the other markets we work for in western Europe or the USA.
Until 2013, when the first Walltopia-built and owned commercial climbing gym in Sofia appeared, Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, only had a few small climbing walls in university campuses. All recreational climbers would go there outside of the university class hours. Polished holds, no flooring under the rope walls, rotating t-nuts, no showers and proper changing rooms were the norm. Recognizing the growing popularity and potential of climbing worldwide and the need to present it to a wider part of the local community in Bulgaria, in 2013 Walltopia opened a visually intriguing bouldering gym, Boulderland, in a shopping center. Designed to resemble a decor from a sci-fi movie, the boulder walls made of fiberglass and resin with LED strips complemented the LED-lit holds making climbers feel like they’re in outer space. The heart-shaped boulder suspended from the ceiling in the center of the gym was an eye-cathing feature with highly instagrammable look.
Combined with a Funtopia kids zone with Fun Walls, Boulderland was designed in a manner that a big part of the gym is visible to all who pass by in the mall. It served its purpose to introduce the niche sport to a bigger public to a great extend.
In 2017 Walltopia finished our new HQ building which was designed with climbing in mind – the 6-floor office space is integrated with three tall atriums featuring 19-meter rope climbing walls and a substatial bouldering area – a total of 1800 sqm of climbing terrain. The climbing gym in the shopping mall was repurposed to fully serve the young audience – the boulders were replaced by trampolines, Cloud Climb and Ninja Course to complement the Fun Walls zone and differentiate the active entertainment experience for the youngest vistors of the shopping mall.