Reconstruction project for Cond district is again in the process of discussion. For many times this project has been taken out from the archive, pointing at the importance of maintaining tints and historical environment of old Yerevan in Cond. Cond is one of the oldest districts of Yerevan preserved since the 17th century. And the older is the district, the more are the problems, accumulating for decades. Yet there is no comprehensive solution for construction of Cond district on the general plan of Yerevan city. The famous Russian-born Armenian architect Alexander Tamanyan, who prepared the first general plan of Yerevan, did not plan to rebuild Kond at all; he imagined a green zone there, but the hill was left out of the main construction of those years because of its location. In 1984-85 the government seriously considered the construction problem of the district, which is located in the center and at the same time is cut off from the city downtown. Then a tender of architectural design projects for Cond reconstruction had been announced. The winner of the tender was Arshavir Aghekyan’s design project, according to which a residential zone along Saryan, Leo and Paronyan streets was planned with backyard terraces and green roofs. In the middle of Cond hill about 5 ha area was allocated for a public center where the renovated houses would have studios, workshops, craftsmanship workshops, display and sales halls. In northern part of Dvin hotel it was planned to have a tourist center. But the project was not realized because of the Spitak earthquake and following events. Arshavir Aghekyan finds the reconstruction of this district very important, mentioning, “The project aims to create a collective image of folk architecture, based on the medieval spirit of Cond’s spontaneous construction, scale and space planning. This problem is even more urgent in Yerevan, a city with an impressive historical past, but having no real evidence”. Cond has a great potential in the development of tourism by its place and history, providing wide range of interesting ideas. Many famous European cities rebuilt their old historic districts, making them very attractive for tourism development. Cond too must be linked to the city center, making it the active part of capital city's vibrant daily life and taking into account peculiarities of the district and its environment by harmonious reconstruction of the old and the new and the complex solution of residents’ problems. Cond reconstruction negotiations are underway now, and only after that the design phase will start. What will be decided and how it will be implemented is still unknown. Anyway, the problem is urgent, and thousands of Cond inhabitants are waiting for improvement of their living conditions at least during the governance of current authorities. The next article about Cond, we hope, will tell about the implementation phase of the project.

Day after day many residential buildings are being built in Yerevan, which, nevertheless, do not look inhabited, because many people buy new apartments as investment in real estate. Yet, dozens of Armenian families still live in unsafe buildings. Today we will talk about the project implemented by the construction company Nobby Ltd, the representatives of which are trying to solve the abovementioned problem. It is about the construction of residential buildings at 8/1 Arzumanyan street in Ajapnyak administrative district. The residents of the adjacent emergency buildings appealed to Nobby Ltd with a request to provide an apartment in the new building. At what stage are these agreements and under what conditions will these apartments be allocated to them? “With the residents of the emergency building, we came to an agreement about the allocation of apartments in the new residential building. These apartments will be completely renovated and adapted to the needs of residents, the emergency building will be demolished and a park will be built in its place”, told us the representatives of Nobby and added, that the park will be pretty large and convenient. In fact, it is one of the few projects in the area where landscaping is included. The whole project consists of construction of 5 residential buildings (the first one pending and will be finished at the end of 2020). According to the plan, the 12-storey building will have 120 apartments (39 m², 55 m², 58 m² and 76.9 m²), as well as an underground garage and a playground. According to the project, it is planned to build four more buildings: two 16-storey and two 18-storey - a total of 220 apartments and 100 parking spaces.

Yerevan Municipality plans to start the program of reconstruction and modernization of the Victory Park, turning it into a park of the 21st century, with profuse thematic and stylistic solutions. The idea is undoubtedly very interesting, especially considering the fact, that it is based on the history, traditions and legends of Armenia. The park will be designed for all age groups, combining elements of leisure, entertainment and recreation. One of the distinguishing features of Victory Park will be the use of interactive learning components of the 21st century. As a result, all visitors of the park will have access to information systems. The project will be implemented with private investments. Yerevan Municipality will assist the investor in providing information on the legal status of land plots, in obtaining the necessary documentation for the project, will consider the possibility and conditions of preferential payment for land use. The construction works will last 3 years; the project cost will be about 60 mln US Dollars. The main task of the project is to make the park modern, while maintaining the main elements of the former Victory Park. And though the park needs reconstruction, it has nevertheless formed its own architectural image. Ultimately, in large cities the spirit of different times should be felt, the collective image of which reflects the mood of the city, especially if this place is dedicated to some significant event. Let us recall, that famous architects Rafael Israyelyan, Hovhannes Hakobyan, Ashot Alexanyan, Anahit Navasardyan and the sculptor Ara Harutyunyan contributed to the creation of Victory Park by building the unique symbols: Alley of Heroes, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Aragil Restaurant, Lake Arevik and Mother Armenia. It is noteworthy, that Victory Park already has its own ideology, therefore the park does not need ideas, it needs reconstruction, reconstitution of felled trees, overhaul of Aragil restaurant and renovation of the existing amusement rides. We are not against the project implementation, on the contrary, it has plenty of interesting ideas and solutions, and since the program is at the initial stage, it may be worthwhile to consider building a park in one of the suburbs or micro-districts of the capital. This approach will not only contribute to the uniform development of the city, but will also give an opportunity to further expand the park areas, equipping them with new amusement rides. Let us recall, that the construction works of the Victory Park began back in the 1930s, and the park was then called ''Arabkir City Park '', after it was renamed to Victory, and for many years since then the trees were planted on its desolate lands. The Memorial of Victory Park was opened on 29th of November, 1950. The total area of the park is 34 ha. Let’s hope, that the city officials will follow this example, and another desert land clot will be planted with trees.

Climbing up the stairs of Yerevan Cascade is an interesting and pleasant challenge, the reward of which is the opportunity to admire the beautiful view of the city from the great height. Yet, after the fourth platform of Cascade the white travertine miracle is abruptly interrupted, and a giant black-fenced cavity opens in front of us, which was dug in 2007 with an intention to finally complete Cascade stairway project. The construction of the Cascade was finished and finally equipped by the charity of philanthropist Gerard Cafesjian, who planned to build a museum at the end of the stairway with New-York-based architect David Hotson’s design. The basic works were started. But in the course of the works it turned out that the design several times exceeded the planned budget. The project was cancelled due to the disagreement between the client and the architect. That part of Cascade, which is 78 meters away from the Revived Armenia Monument and covers an area of about 9.8 hectares remains unfinished. Architect Aslan Mkhitaryan is one of the co-authors of the Cascade complex. He has developed two design ideas for finishing the Cascade construction. The projects were sent to the Prime-Minister of Armenia and the mayor of Yerevan city. In the first project Aslan Mkhitaryan plans to build a universal concert hall named after Charles Aznavour in the central part of Cascade. On the left side of the Cascade, it is planned to build a hotel complex, and on the right side there will be an open-air hall for 3000 people. In the second project instead of the hotel the architect suggests to build a museum (1200 m2), as it was planned by G. Cafesjian, and on the right side there will be an open-air concert hall (for 1500 people) named after Charles Aznavour. According to the design it is planned to have also 1600m2 agora, fountains, café, recreational and leisure places. The museum and the concert hall will be covered with solar panels, which will provide the power supply of the area. The open air escalators will also function, taking people to the monument. The design and construction works of Cascade complex lasted a long time, and they still are going on. First time it was Alexander Tamanyan, who gave the idea of reconstruction in 1924, and the project entered the implementation phase in 1976, designed by the architects Jim Torosyan, Sargis Gurzadyan and Aslan Mkhitaryan. By the way, the design of Cascade has been changed several times during the construction process. The archive of Yerevanproject Institute maintains Cascade's last project, which the authors finished in 1987-88. According to that project the last - upper area of the Cascade would have been an open-air exhibition, dedicated to Armenian medieval architecture and surrounded with fountains. From the open-air exhibition place the stairs would rise to the platform of the Revived Armenia Monument. Yet the construction works were postponed due to the earthquake in 1988 and collapse of Soviet Union in 1991. The open-air exhibition hall was not built.

The long-awaited “train” of unloading traffic flows in the capital and the development of the metro has finally budged! The future metro station project “Ajapnyak”, which was in draft papers back from Soviet times, finally will be brought to life, and in this respect the city authorities already launched a complex program. “A large shopping center is planned to be built on the territory adjacent to Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, which will have a very high level of sales in terms of trade, because it will be located over the metro station, which will interest the entrepreneurs for development of the station”, recently noted the chief architect of Yerevan Artur Meschyan. In his speech he assured, “This will be a 100% business project, and with the investments of this project we have to build the bridge and the new station”. It is planned to start the project implementation with construction of the new station, said deputy mayor Hayk Sargsyan, - “In all our projects our main goal is to create new values and new infrastructures in Yerevan, without increasing the government debt and without budget overload. The project implementation should begin with the construction of underground and completed with a business model. The principle is stated and clearly presented to all potential investors.” The business project which is considered by the municipality, includes two components: construction of the new shopping mall next to the new metro station and updating the housing fund in this area of Yerevan. “When we reached the assessment stage, we understood, that we have an old housing fund next to the underground. That is former Cheryomushki district of Yerevan. Here we have many dilapidated residential buildings, each of which is considered as a separate business program. Three-four-storey buildings will be replaced with high-rise buildings, and creating business interest, we will have new housing funds and relocation of people without budget overload”, noted deputy Mayor Hayk Sargsyan.