Children of Armenia Charitable Foundation (COAF), founded by businessman and scientist Karo Armen, strives to help Armenia in these difficult days for our country, implementing new projects. Debet village will soon become the first smart village in Armenia. According to COAF infrastructure program coordinator Arthur Ter-Simonyan, a new playground will soon be built in Debet, which will be one of the best COAF playgrounds. Within the framework of the project, the first smart bus-stop with a unique design will be built. The bus stop design is completed and now in its approval phase. This program can bring a new breath into the cultural and everyday life of Debet population, because it is aimed at creating a more comfortable, modern environment for the villagers in order to reduce the emigration flow. The project also envisages road repair, improvement of street lighting and the state of public transport, well-built tiled roofs, high-quality infrastructure, a developing economy, modern means of communication and, of course, active and involved residents. Of course, with such an integrated approach, it is possible to solve practically all the problems of the village. We also learned from the COAF website that modular houses will be built in the village for displaced families from Artsakh as part of the SMART Debet program.

The State Urban Development Committee announced an international open architectural and urban planning tender for reconstruction of Kond district in Yerevan. It was proposed to organize a professional working group, which will include architects, urban planners, economists, sociologists, lawyers, representatives of public relations and mass media (including journalists), artists, sculptors, ethnographers, historians, non-governmental organizations, as well as active and responsive residents of Kond and other interested or competent people who can help with the implementation of the project with their advice. Of course, listening to the opinions of all interested parties is not bad, especially for experts, but the opinion of residents of Kond is also important. And, of course, one of the priorities to be the issue of providing residents of Kond with housing on site. Since Kond is the historical district of Yerevan, it is necessary to carry out excavations and launch research before the start of the tender, and meanwhile, research and excavation can take many years. A result of similar rush has been the Youth Palace and Ferdowsi Street, the fate of which is still unclear. Of course, it would be highly desirable that the Kond reconstruction project fully reflects the atmosphere of Armenian architecture with 2-3 story buildings. That does not mean, that we are against the creation of trade and entertainment centers. We simply propose that all these structures should be designed in the spirit and according to the rules of Armenian architecture of this era. For revitalizing the district it is proposed to include the following plan in the conceptual draft: organization of access to all entrances to the area, development of an information system aimed at facilitating communication within the area, specialized cafe, visitor information center, workshops, studios, work areas, media center, gift shops and exhibition halls, open air and indoor venues for events, shops, guest houses, catering establishments, public baths and premises for temporary accommodation of the guests. Meanwhile the tender for reconstruction of Kond district of Yerevan was announced twice many years ago. Along the perimeter of the rectangular garden, it was planned to restore the surviving 2-3-storey old buildings, to use Armenian cuisine for restaurants, cafe, tea houses, attractions, games (including national ones), art clubs, etc. In the park, artists could paint and exhibit their paintings. It could be like Armenian Montmartre. However, this project was also cancelled, and the announced tender is the third attempt. Let’s hope that this attempt will be successful and finally we will get reconstructed, renewed and renovated face of one of the Yerevan’s old district – Kond.

Yerevan Children's Railway will not lose its architectural and cultural values. This is not a presumption, but a statement made by the Municipality of Yerevan. We were somewhat worried about the proposal to build a parking and a fitness center to renovate the children's railway, which was more like a business plan that would completely distort the spirit of the Children's Railway. Therefore, we made an enquiry from the Municipality about what construction work will be carried out and how true our fears were. We were told that there were several investment proposals for the modernization and expansion of the territory of the Children's Railway, which were considered by the interdepartmental commission on programs requiring a comprehensive urban planning solution. As a result, it was decided that the construction works on the territory of the railway are inappropriate, except for consolidation, restoration, repair and landscaping. The good news is, that the residents will not be deprived of their favorite park, which from generation to generation conveys the vivid memories of our parents, being a small green oasis in the dusty center of our capital. Children’s railway is connected to the city center by two tunnels. According to the plan of the chief architect of Yerevan Alexander Tamanyan, the Hrazdan gorge was supposed to serve as a recreation zone, the clean air of which was supposed to reach the city center through the tunnels. Two 400-meter tunnels were built in the 1940s and were designed as military shelters. Unfortunately, after the independence declaration, the attention is paid mostly to modern solutions, rather, than Armenian traditional architecture. To preserve this unique piece of national architecture, the Municipality made a decision to keep the appearance of Children’s Railway. It is noteworthy, that the first tunnel was cleaned in May, and very soon the second tunnel and all the stations of Children’s Railway will be cleaned and put into operation. The official opening of Yerevan Children’s Railway took place on 6th of July 1937. The idea of opening the railway belongs to Aghasi Khanjyan, the chief architect is Mikael Mazmanyan. In the late 1940s, the wooden building of the station was replaced with a stone one designed by the architect Gohar Grigoryan. According to the witnesses, there were German prisoners working on the construction of tunnels. The people used to give them bread, and the prisoners made wooden dolls for them as a sign of gratitude.

The historical center of Goris is being restored within the framework of Local economy and infrastructure development program, co-financed by the Government of Armenia and with the help of World Bank loan. The project singled out 36 monuments and buildings of community significance of XIX-XX centuries, which are preserved examples of unique Goris architecture. The buildings of historical-architectural value of Goris are mainly two-storey, sometimes one-storey, with a basement, built on red lines. The yards and adjacent plots of land are located at the back of the buildings, which are built of local rough basalt stone, decorated with artistic plaster typical of Goris, also called "barkash". The buildings have open wooden balconies with wooden or metal bars, semi-arched openings of double doors and windows, made of polished stone, wooden gates, red sheet metal sloping roofs. The exterior facades of the old houses in Goris are distinguished by their simplicity and are in harmony with each other and with nature. Since ancient times Goris has been an administrative, commercial and handicraft center. That is why these buildings were, as the Chief Architect of Goris said “profitable houses”. The first floors were commercial, handicraft and service areas, the second floors were residential areas and guest houses. At present, the historical buildings of Goris are mostly in a deplorable condition. The works have started already within the program, and they include: replacing the roofs, doors and windows of these buildings, strengthening the buildings, the historic appearance of the facades, and restoring the balconies and wooden gates. The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure informs that everything has been done and will be done to preserve the purity of the historical core of Goris: “The project for the restoration of the historical core of Goris was developed by "Mastara" architectural studio, discussed and approved by the Scientific-Methodological Council of Culture, Sports, Youth Affairs and the State Committee for Urban Development. Public discussions were also organized in Goris”. At the moment, according to the Chief Architect of Goris, 30% of the work has been done, but the result is already impressive and obvious. The program also envisages the reconstruction of the main streets adjacent to the historical center. The worn-out curbs of the pavements will be replaced with new basalt stones, the walkways of the central streets will be paved with basalt stones, restoring the former appearance, the bicycle lanes will be marked using different colors of stones, the street lighting columns will be changed, and all engineering networks will be reinstalled underground. The surface drainage and water supply systems will be renovated, the open drainage canals will be cleaned and restored. According to the work schedule, the reconstruction of historical core of the city will be completed in summer 2021.

It is already many years, that Parametricism, which is an algorithmic architecture, has become very popular worldwide. This style, which is a product of the digital age, has its pros and cons, and due to its advantages, attracts more and more people and Armenia is not an exception. Very soon this style will appear in our capital city, too. It’s about the project of a multifunctional center at the top of the intersection of Komitas Avenue and the Boulevard, which is intended for the final section of the Northern Axis of Yerevan. At what stage is the project now and how it is going to be implemented? We asked this question to the director of architectural studio Ithake 999 LLC, the chief architect of the project, PhD in Architecture and laureate of many international awards Telemak Ananyan, who told us, that the center will be built in the place of former Arabkir department store. - Mr. Ananyan, what is the reason for choosing such design of the building? - The 20th century was a century of typification, unification and standardization, which was a consequence of industrialization, and the 21st century is a century of parametric architecture, due to the development of modern digital and robotic industrial systems. Parametric modeling allows you to work with double-curved surfaces, which are innovative, beautiful, impressive and memorable, attract attention, have high bearing capacity, seismic resistance and allow you to get a variety of forms with very bold flights. Large-scale coverage allows you to capture huge surfaces under one canopy, facilitates solutions for planning, technology, navigation and other tasks. By combining all types of service buildings of the multi functional center under one roof, it is possible to ensure the environment in accordance with modern international standards for leisure, catering, exhibitions, shopping, youth and children development and entertainment. The dome of the building is planned to be made according to the well-known construction technology of modern parametric architecture, and we plan to cover the roof with double-curved surfaces using a membrane mould, in the subsystem of which there is a frame of a metal spatial membrane network, with external cladding. The system is designed to be made of lightweight rolled aluminum complex composite spatial profiles. The total area of the building is 4975 sq.m. - Mr. Ananyan, what served as the basis for such an architectural and spatial image of the building? - Analyzing the urban environment, our group of authors found it expedient to oppose the existing quadrangular-prismatic, rectangular-vertical and horizontal dominant volumes as much as possible, using the smoothest, most spherical, double-dimensional curved surfaces. In order to create the above-mentioned volume, modern parametric modeling principles were applied, which allowed to create modern and expressive large "brushstroke" in both internal and external environments, in the form of traditional Armenian Vishap (Dragon), which rules at the end of the Northern Ray of Yerevan. - What planning decisions are used in the project? - The building has an open floor plan. In the presence of more lighting, the goal is to provide the ground, basement and semi-basement floors with natural light. The complex has one main entrance from Komitas Avenue, two extra accesses from the upper part of the park, a separate entrance for employees and a parking lot… The project is now at the stage of “working documentation”. - Is it known which company will be in charge of the construction? - It is not one, but several construction companies. The Armenian company will work on concrete structures, and foreign partners with relevant experience will be invited for parametric coating. Organizations will be selected through an open private tender. We plan to start the construction works in spring 2021 and complete in the fall of 2022. The preliminary budget is 10 million US dollars, which is the budget for the whole program, including the reconstruction of the park, fountains, underground parking lot and construction of the 2nd building. Very soon we will present a modern park equipped with an open amphitheater, fountains, etc. Learn more