The architectural design concept of the Cultural Center of Railway Employees in Gyumri, the same Sevyan Palace of Culture, was presented at the World Architecture Festival 2022 and passed the final stage in the "Education" and "Urban Planning" subcategories. The concept was developed by Canadian-based Armenian architect Azat Shishmanyan (NEUF architectural studio) in cooperation with Storaket architectural studio from Armenia. The World Architecture Festival has been held for already 15 years. Architectural masterpieces from different parts of the world are presented here, and about 500 projects are presented at each festival. The concept of reconstruction of the Cultural Center of Railway Employees or Sevyan Palace of Culture, is in that shortlist. The building is located next to the Gyumri railway station. That area used to be a busy place, but after the 1988 earthquake, it became ruined and abandoned. And the project was developed by a Canadian-Armenian architect with a "Phoenix rising from the ashes" cultural and community development approach. The center, along with its innovative and multi-functional infrastructure, will have some old parts, like the only standing section, a facade built in the neoclassical style. Modern geometric volumes will be placed inside the stone facade. The largest, oval volume, will be the performance hall for 500 people. There will also be a small multifunctional hall with 175 seats. The concert hall will also serve as a professional audio recording studio, an exhibition hall, a multi-purpose intermission hall, visual effects and 3D/Motion Capture studio, 3 dance and music rehearsal rooms, VIP outdoor lounge, 9 dressing rooms, cafe-souvenir shop , fragrance laboratory, offices, production of scenery and stage costumes, printing office, information center-ticket office, food and wine tasting booth, commercial kiosks and rental points. The center will be surrounded by a public park. The founder and artistic director of the project is the People's Artist of RA, Rudolph Kharatyan; the founding director of the project is Lilit Petrosyan. Because of this project, the abandoned part of the city will revive. A. Shishmanyan said, “ The goal is to create different opportunities for people to gather in this part of the city.… We want to have a carefully designed area that will inspire other residents of the city. ” And it is impossible not to be inspired when you realize that the project of the building is a participant of the World Architecture Festival. The Festival will take place in Lisbon from November 30-December 2, 2022.

The hill of Nork-Marash used to be a forested area and “the lungs” of Yerevan city. Because of deforestation during the dark and cold years, as well as due to lack of irrigation, the forest has almost disappeared. "Khakhamyan Heritage" development company aims to reforest the area with the help of its "Amanoo" project. "Amanoo" district will occupy an area of 5 hectares. Now 1 ha is under construction. Large, mature trees are already being transported here from different regions of Armenia; 1100 trees are already planted. At the end of the project it is planned to have 4500 trees. It is a unique project, 75% of which will be landscaped, built according to the principles of biophilic and biometric architecture. Biometric, when an element of nature becomes the result of inspiration; in this project it is the ivy leaf. The buildings are designed to resemble an ivy leaf. And biophilic, when there is plenty of nature inside the buildings. All apartments have a beautiful panoramic view of the city or the neighborhood garden. The garden will have stone paths, streams, bridges, a pond and an 11-meter waterfall. The green landscapes will have indoor and outdoor recreation areas. About 50 apartments are fully glazed with panoramic view windows. Leaf-shaped buildings do not have walls with sharp corners. The height of the ceilings is 3.2 m, for the upper floors - 4.2 m. The apartments will be offered for sell without any partitions which will give more space for future interior design decisions of residents. With this project, "Amanoo" also changes the ideas about the ground floor. The ground floors in this district leave an impression that you are in your private villa outside the city, not in a city apartment. All upper floors have a 140 sqm terrace with their own private pool and garden. For cars there are separate roads, underground and open parking places. The district will be fenced and will have 3 entrances with guard posts. The roads leading to the district from Saralanj (which is 2.5 km from the city center) and Garegin Hovsepyan Street are being built, the third, already operational entrance is from Armenak Armenakyan Street. The parking lot is ready, the basic works of 4 buildings have been completed. The sale of apartments has already begun.

The famous park, which has been neglected for more than 30 years after the devastating Spitak earthquake in 1988, is being reconstructed on the initiative of the Tourism and Urban Development Charitable Foundation (TUF). When developing the design concept of the park, the valuable memories and suggestions of Gyumri residents were taken into account, in order to “preserve the old attractive spirit of the park” and to find new original solutions. 84 applications have been submitted to the International Competition for Architectural Solutions of Garden Recreation Infrastructure Elements from 16 countries and 37 cities. The winner in the nominations the "Standard Architectural Elements" and "Unique Architectural Element", was recognized IND Architects. Also, special benches will be placed in the park by the design of SULIMAN, RAKOVSKAYA & SOFOYAN studio, which won the nomination for "Small Architectural Forms". And so, let us start our tour in the revitalizing park from the entrance of the park. The official entrance to the park was in front of the former Shirak Hotel, where the entrance arches are still standing. The park will have a sports ground with its own infrastructure, a playground and amusement rides, a reservoir or an artificial pond and a skating rink for winter fun. The novelty and the key part of the park will be the Vernissage with its 25 unique exhibition pavilions and the School of horticulture. The Friendship Park reconstruction program also envisages the construction of a new open-air stage, which will be located in the central square of the park, together with the café. The spacious stage will be surrounded by a green area, and the continuation of the hill behind the stage will be seen then. It is planned to build a make-up room near the stage, as well as a separate area for storing equipment and tools. The construction of some objects of the park is planned to be completed in the middle of September of this year, after which the park will be open to the residents of Gyumri and the guests of the city. And at the end of 2023 it is planned to put the whole park into operation. Within the framework of the Friendship Park program, a participatory design was developed for the first time in Armenia. The park is being reconstructed with active involvement of local residents’ memories and ideas. The restored Friendship Park will promote the development of the city's infrastructure, acting as a bridge between Gyumri's historic center, Kumayri, and its "industrial and residential districts."

In the quietest and sunniest part of Dilijan, a complex of cottages was built with modern architectural solutions and according to modern construction standards. The attractive feature of the complex is, that you can live and relax in a cottage, as well as rent it out through Dili Town Resort and Spa, at an interest rate of 70/30, 70% of which will be yours. All the cottages have a patio and a garage. Owners and guests on preferential terms will be able to use the services of the Dili Town Resort and Spa hotel complex: swimming pool, sauna, gym, restaurant, laundry, etc. Because the whole initiative was quite attractive, the cottages are already sold out. But since there are many people who want to become business partners of Dili Town, investors also took up the construction of an apartment building, which will be put into operation as a hotel.> Hotel suites, like the cottages, are offered with interior decoration and full furniture with the same percentage ratio of 70/30. 30% of the amount must be paid first, and the rest of the sum is distributed in parallel with the construction process in the form of equal monthly payments, without any additional fees and interest. In the middle of the cottages and the residential building, Dili Town Resort and Spa complex will be built with an outdoor pool, a conference hall, children's playground, a restaurant and cafe, as well as an indoor pool, Finnish and Russian bathhouses and sauna. The architectural solution of the exterior of Dili Town is implemented in accordance with the architecture of Dilijan. Both Dili Town Resort and Spa Complex cottages and the residential building have suspended wooden balconies typical for Dilijan. The interior of the cottages and the building is decorated with natural plants. The residential building - hotel is planned to be put into operation in 2023.

Yereruyk, the dilapidated temple dated IV-VI centuries, located on the left bank of Akhuryan gorge, in Anipemza community of Shirak region, can be built up, in case of available financing. The temple is a huge basilica, which together with Anipemza settlement on March 16, 2016 was included in the list of the seven UNESCO monuments under the greatest threat of extinction in Europe in 2015. About a month ago, within the framework of an agreement signed between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian National University of Architecture and Construction, a complex of design work was developed to strengthen the Yereruyk temple, the vaults of the mausoleum, restoration of the Anipemza House of Culture and the creation of a small museum. Professor Emma Harutyunyan, PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, Scientific Director of the Engineering Academy of Armenia, told us about the excavations and the temple. “During numerous excavations in the Yereruyk temple, early Christian tombs and caves were discovered, including graves of infants. After excavations in 2011, archaeologist Patrick Tonapetyan said that this is somehow connected with the nature of the temple, since it is dedicated to John the Baptist, and according to people, he allowed unbaptized children to be buried there... Studying the results of previous excavations, I was amazed by the fact that the huge temple has practically no foundation, it is built on two rows of small stones, stacked on top of each other. In addition, the stairs of the temple, which are mostly typical of pagan temples such as the Garni temple, are not a pedestal here, but were built to give the temple more solemnity and grandeur… The Yereruyk temple is now in an extremely dangerous state, we can say that it is on the verge of collapse, because over the years the temple has undergone some changes, the stones on the top of the walls have collapsed. Seismic calculations have shown that the most dangerous part, which is still on the verge of collapse, is the southwestern part of the temple. Here, the stone mortars will be treated with a special solution to strengthen the stone walls, some new stones must be added to the walls to give strength to this part of the temple, and special measures will be taken to strengthen the walls with basalt reinforcement bars… In the mausoleum, we plan to strengthen the vaults, add coverings to protect from atmospheric influences. In Anipemza, a village near the Yereruyk temple, there is a small non-functioning house of culture. We have planned the reconstruction of this building in order to create a museum where the most valuable fragments of the temple will be exhibited. Unfortunately, Yereruyk has few visitors. If the project is implemented, it will contribute to the development of tourism. People would visit Yereruyk and Anipemza, will get acquainted with our history and culture.”