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 new sports complex is expected to be built very soon, and it will unite the Olympic Youth Sports School of Cycling and Olympic Youth Sports School of Sport, Artistic Gymnastics and Acrobatics named after Hrant Shahinyan. At first it was planned to build sports hall in the yard of Hrant Shahinyan sports school building, and then reconstruct the building of Olympic youth sports school of cycling. But the research revealed, that the building of Olympic youth sports school of cycling is physically worn out, in the IV degree of emergency and should be demolished for security reasons. As for Hrant Shahinyan sports school building, it is technically impossible to build a hall in its yard. Taking into account the research results, it is planned to join the projects and build one completely new sport complex. The new complex will consist of two buildings and will be located at 48 Bagratunyats Street. One will host the 1076.0 m² rhythmic gymnastics and acrobatics hall and 348 m2 outbuildings. The other one is 1280 m² two-storey building with a flat roof and an inner courtyard, hosting the cycling sport school. The perimeter of the two buildings covered with asphalt concrete layer 220 m long and 2 m wide will serve as bike path. The gymnastics and acrobatics hall can host 250 spectators. On the flat roof of the two-storey building of the Cycling Sports School it is planned to install 200-240 photovoltaic solar panels. The exterior walls of the two buildings will be fitted with three-color fibro-cement slabs. The sport complex will be able to host up to 500 people at the same time. The area is adapted for people with mobility problems. The new sports complex will have a well-landscaped green area of 1727 m², where all the decorative trees, firs and bushes will be replanted. The design of the Olympic youth sports school of cycling and Olympic youth sports school of sport, artistic gymnastics and acrobatics named after Hrant Shahinyan is being implemented by HGSN LLC by the order of RA Urban Development Committee. The chief architect of the project is Gagik Harutyunyan.

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

Build and destroy, destroy and build, and again destroy, or ... as the comedians from YMU used to say, “What are we doing? Correct, we are piddling”. No, it’s not a joke … 16 years later, it turned out that there was no need of demolishing the Youth Palace. In other words, people were right, when they opposed the demolition of this architectural value. Recently, the design project of reconstruction of the Youth Palace (was nicknamed the “Corn Building”) was posted on the Facebook page of development and investment programs. The reconstruction was the pre-election promise of Yerevan mayor Hayk Marutyan. The three-dimensional model of the reconstruction was recently presented by the architectural studio «A3 Architects». According to the presented model, the new design is a complete copy of the previous building. Let us recall, that the Youth Palace, the symbol of Yerevan city, was sold in 2004, and in two years it had been demolished in order to build a hotel in its place. But, despite the fact that many tenders were announced, the project has not been implemented, and the territory of the building now serves as a parking lot. Building design co-author Hrach Poghosyan in one of his interviews said: “The person who bought the Youth Palace claimed that it had small rooms, which is unacceptable for the first-class hotel, which he was going to build. … I offered him several options, in particular, to have luxury rooms on ground floors of the building, and leave the small rooms in other parts”. Unfortunately, this interesting proposal was ignored. Today, when they plan to erect the Youth Palace in the city center, it would be more reasonable to involve Hrach Poghosyan in design and construction works. It should be noted that this building is not the only one with a similar fate, copies of which are now being built as part of “Old Yerevan” project. However, how justified is this policy? From one hand, the city loses its historical face, from the other, they cause psychological trauma to honored architects. The only positive side is that the new constructed buildings will comply with updated seismic safety standards. Designed by architects Artur Tarkhanyan, Spartak Khachikyan and Hrachya Poghosyan the Youth Palace construction was launched 1967. The official opening took place in 1979. The interior of the building was decorated with interesting works of art, a gilded sculpture of Adam and Eve by Mkrtich Mazmanyan was placed in the bar, and the sculpture Spring by Tom Gevorgyan was placed in the lobby. The palace was decorated with frescoes by Armine Kalents, tapestries by Nelly Asatryan, stained glass windows of Martin Zakaryan and a wooden map of Armenia by Zorik Stepanyan.

A new skate park will be built near Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, inside the Circular Park, also known as the Youth park. Thus, the Circular Park and its surroundings will revive. For the implementation of this project, Mayor of the capital Hayk Marutyan recently signed a donor agreement with the President of the Union of Armenians in Ukraine Vilen Shatvoryan. «When we hear from our homeland, we do our best to help. Relations with Armenia give us strength and energy, and therefore, we do our best to maintain that link», - said the President of the Union of Armenians in Ukraine Vilen Shatvoryan. According to the plan, the construction of the skate park will begin in the coming months in a public area of 5044 sq.m. The project consists of two phases. The first phase is scheduled on June 30. For that period of time the relief slope of the southern part of the playground will be transformed into an amphitheater, directed to the playground. It is designed to build a skate rental, first-aid post, to refresh the green spaces. The area will be equipped with stylish solar-powered fans and general perimeter lighting using LED system. During the second phase of the project the existing green zone of the eastern part will be renovated with the help of unique plant landscapes and an observation deck. The problem of public lavatories in the park will also be solved, for the construction of which there will be a separate project. It is planned to finish the construction completely by August 2020, which means that already this year the skate park will open its doors to our fellow citizens. «We came to a wonderful decision that this project will first of all bring happiness to our youth. This is how the idea was born to build a long-awaited and much-needed skate park in the capital. It is not only sport, it is also culture, a place of leisure, where young people will play sports and communicate with each other. It is important for our city. And this is only the beginning …», noted the mayor of Yerevan.