In a few days, the construction of the main section of Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan border Interstate (M-4) highway will be completed. The road has already been assessed by users. «We did not even feel how we reached Ijevan. That road has always been bumpy and uncomfortable for traffic. In general, the road Yerevan - Sevan – Ijevan now is of very high quality, which greatly facilitates the travel»,- mentioned the drivers we interviewed. Of course, quality is an important guarantee of a good road, and both construction companies and construction materials are responsible for quality. We learned from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Development of RA how the construction works were carried out. According to the given information, average repair works now are proceeding: milling of old asphalt concrete, pavement repair, smoothing and installation of asphalt concrete pavement. Major repairs have been carried out in some areas. The construction of highway is implemented with preservation of asphalt concrete technology: the road consists of one layer 5 cm thick. According to the information provided by the ministry, the following construction companies have carried out the construction of various sections of the road: «Chanaparh» Ltd, «AAB project» Ltd, «Ararat-Chanshin» Ltd. The latter is responsible for the refurbishment of 129.1km and 135.4km segments of the highway Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan border. The works are planned to be finished by 10th of December 2019. The length of the refurbished segment of the Interstate (M-4) highway «Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan border» is 58.9 km, 3,271M AMD has been allocated for the implementation of the project. Are similar road construction projects envisaged in 2020 and how much money is planned to spend? - we made this inquiry in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of RA. «Definitely, as for the amount allocated, at this moment I can not say for sure... At present, the reconstruction project envisages the repair of 244.4 km road»,- David Kartashyan, the Head of the Road Policy Department, explained in a telephone conversation with us.

Reconstruction of Yerevan underpasses was one of the most important issues of the capital, and recently the problem seems to be resolved. The municipality informed, that 300,0 mln AMD was allocated for the implementation of the project, and now reconstruction works are underway in three underpasses. Currently, major renovation works are underway in the underpasses of Halabyan-Leningradyan crossroads, Marshal Baghramyan metro station and near the Victoy park. According to the announcement posted on the municipality website, «The underpass at the intersection of Grigor Lusavorich and Mashtots avenues has been partly reconstructed by means of Yerevan municipality for the comfort of pedestrians. The lighting has also been refurbished». Work on this passage will be continued after new design approved. In response to our question whether the underground repair program will be ongoing, the municipality answered: “Yes, the program will be continuous. Some underpasses are planned to be renovated in 2020».

The historical monument-building at 2 Amiryan street was built in 1896, designed by architect Michael von der Nonne. At first, there was a male gymnasium here, and then, starting from 1936, there functioned the library named after Avetik Isahakyan. Now the building is being reconstructed. Here the Holiday Inn hotel will open its doors. The hotel will have 6 floors from Amiryan street: two glazed and two stone floors will be added to the two historical floors. The upper part of the hotel façade is made of Noyemberyan felsite tufa to fit with the Government House 2, and below, between felsite and historical facades, the glass curtain wall highlights the historical building domination against the general background. «Thus, we aimed to develop the environment by emphasizing the importance and value of these two buildings so that the new ones look secondary on their background»,- explains the architect Isahak Nersisyan. Yerevan Holiday Inn is planned to be a 4-star mid-range hotel occupying a total area of 23700 square meters. The hotel will have 191 rooms, 11 of which will be suites with separate bedrooms and living rooms, the rest are mainly double standard and executive rooms. The hotel will have two entrances, one from Amiryan Street and the other from the inner courtyard, where you can pass through the arch of the historic building. The first floors of the historic building on Amiryan street will be rented out as public spaces. At the top of the building there will be an open-air cafe with Pergola awnings and mobile canopies. The first floor of the second historic building in the inner courtyard will also be given for rent. The hotel complex will have 6-7 floors and 3 underground levels. On the first floor there will be: the hotel lounge, reception, bar, restaurant and other public areas, which are designed in Holiday Inn hotels’ style by open lobby stile, without partition walls. And the functional separation of the areas will be done with design solutions. The second floor of the hotel will be a sophisticated event area with conference rooms of various formats - 3 large and 4 small. From the third floor the hotel rooms are located, designed in a general style specific to Holiday Inn hotels. Isahak Nersisyan, the architect of the project notes, that they have not set the task of making some Armenian accents, the only difference from other Holiday Inn hotels will be the design of the carpets. «The carpets are knitted by special order with Armenian ornaments and with artificial wear and tear for giving them ancient look». On the 7th floor of the hotel there will be fitness and spa center, gyms and a large swimming pool. The interior design of the hotel rooms and corridors was carried out by the NST Architects headed by Isahak Nersisyan and the design of the hotel's public areas, conference halls, fitness center was developed by the Russian AD Design. Archangel architectural studio from Armenia also participated in the work designing the interior courtyard and Jivani restaurant.

It is already two years that the Pantomime Theater in Yerevan has its own building at 21 Gevorg Kochar street at the intersection of Koryun and Gevorg Kochar streets. The house was built in 1950 as part of the printing office in the Book House. It is a two-storey building with a ground-floor socle. In 1995 the lower levels were privatized and since then remained unused, while on the second floor the book house functioned, which in 2017 was moved to the Public Library building. And here on the second floor it is planned to build the theater. The building is a protected monument, so all the necessary conditions for the preservation of the monument building were taken into account in the reconstruction project. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia has already endorsed the project of reinforcement, renovation and modification of the monument-building of Yerevan State Pantomime Theater, designed by Astichan LLC (architect Khachatur Grigoryan). The Pantomime Theater has been provided with an area of 950 square meters. It will consist of two blocks: theater block (320 square meters) and administrative block (630 square meters). The theater block, with its stage and auditorium, will be located in the building overlooking Koryun Street. In fact, the stage is the heart of the theatre. That is why the art director of the pantomime theater Zhirayr Dadasyan gives a great importance to the convenience of the stage and its compliance with the stage requirements. «Pantomime theater has its genre peculiarities: more chamber style, where body language and mimicry are present, and therefore, the distance between the stage and the audience should not exceed 100-130m. In this project we tried to create all the necessary conditions for the stage, to have a backstage to ensure the proper work of the theater. This is why our stage takes up quite a lot of space»։ The size of the stage will be 9,5x10,5m, the auditorium will be for 133 people (10,2x11,8m). Also, there will be light and sound control room, the lobby, the corridor and the canteen. The administrative block will include: makeup rooms, dressing rooms, wardrobes, rehearsal room, offices, and WCs. The entrance to the theater is located in the middle of the building. The existing public use staircase will be rebuilt and an elevator will function for people with disabilities. The entrance of the theatre is far enough away, people must walk about 50m through the administrative corridor. By the way, the yard of the monument-building overlooking Koryun Street also has a porch and a staircase, which would be more convenient for the theater as it leads directly to the theater hall. Anyway, it belongs to the owner of the lower floors and can serve the theater only as emergency exit. The Urban Development Committee announced the procurement of the theater building reconstruction in August, and the tender is still open.

This summer, the construction of the The House of Paul Eluard Francophone Center began. The construction is carried out by the “Portal” architectural studio together with the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund and the Artsakh Government. The building occupies 700 square meters. The completion of construction works is scheduled for summer 2020. Next to the Center of Francophone it is planned to build an IT school for 450 students and a chapel. The Francophone Center consists of three parts: non-commercial, commercial and the garden. The main entrance is from Tumanyan street. The indoor corridor is the link between the sidewalk and the garden, where the entrances to the commercial and non-commercial parts are located. There is also a second entrance on the west side, where car parking is located. Near the main entrance will stand statue to Paul Eluard. The project is of great interest for everyone. We talked about this with the architect of the Portal studio Sevak Asryan. - I’ll begin with non-commercial part, which is 488m². Here we have the main hall with an area of 135 m² and a height of 5 m. This is a transformable hall, which is divided into two parts by a removable partition. Here you can organize various events by changing the position of chairs and tables. The hall has access to the garden through opening stained glass doors. On the same floor we also have: a conference hall, a classroom, a library, a dressing-room, a bathroom and a utility premise. On the second floor there are three guest rooms with balconies overlooking at Charles Aznavour’s park, as well as the director's office, an open terrace and the laundry. The total area of the commercial part is 327 m² which includes 127 m² dining room with a serving kitchen and direct access to the garden and an open dining area, as well as a bakery, a utility premise, dressing room and toilets. In the basement there will be a cellar, entrance to which is planned to be from the garden. The area of the garden is 850 m². In its central part it is planned to build fountains and a gazebo with a canopy. The garden is located next to the IT school, which has a sports ground, open also for the visitors of the Francophone Center. The architecture of the project is made in modern style with flat roofs. Local stones, tufa, wood, glass and metal are used for exterior cladding and finishes.