Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

[Mos]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

All the statements you have made on this forum are idiotic. You are by far the most "ungenious" person Scotland has produced, and believe me, there have been so many "ungenious" Scotts, Stevie.

Axper jan, don't waste your time on him, he just wants attention.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Ah thanks, I just googled "new matendaran" and saw pictures of the expansion, which I don't like, it doesn't mesh well with the original building

It is typical of current Yerevan developments that a massive project like this, concerning such an important insititution of Armenian cuture, can go ahead (and be finished) without any public consultation at all. What is going to happen insidethis massiveextension? Why is it needed? Only a few years ago the Matenaderan was crying out for funds to buy things as basic as archival scanners to make a permanent record of the manuscripts they hold (the scaners were eventually donated by a European charity). And I recall some political manouvering in which the then head of the Matenaderan was removed from his post to be replaced by someone more pliable.

The guy who paid for this extension is named Sergey Hambartsumyan (Ambartsumian). Born in 1952, in Kirovabad, he is a property-developer based in Moscow. He owns the MonArch construction firm which undertakes the majority of work by Glavmosstroy (the largest constuction firm in Moscow, owned by tycoon Oleg Deripaska - Ambartsumian was also its first vice-president after the formerly state-owned Glavmosstroy was bought by Deripaska). He was also deputy head of the Moscow Urban-Planning Department and was a close ally of the ex-mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov. Exactly how he went from earning "seven dollars a month" in 1994 to being a multimillionaire in under 10 years is unclear.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Exactly how he went from earning "seven dollars a month" in 1994 to being a multimillionaire in under 10 years is unclear.

But we can make intelligent assumptions.

Appetite for destruction http://www.newstatesman.com/arts-and...ssia-buildings

As much as a third of Moscow's historic architecture has been destroyed in the past few years. Hundreds of buildings have been cleared, by hook or by crook, to make way for glitzy shopping arcades, luxury flats, car parks. More than 400 of the city's listed buildings have gone since 1989. What is left is fast decaying.

"Moscow is run as a monopoly - as if it was a private company," says David Sarkisyan, director of the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, who is one of the most prominent voices championing endangered buildings.

Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's mayor since 1992, has been likened by some to a blend of Bob Hoskins and James Cagney. He has thrived in the curious post-Soviet climate.

This explains where the hidious design of the Matenaderan extension has come from. As one commentator put it, in Russia architecture "has been reduced to the role of handmaiden to semi-criminal business circles." This new Matenaderan extension has all the beauty and charm of the face of an over-used "handmaiden".

[Tigranakert]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

[Tigranakert]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments









[IMG][/IMG]

[Mos]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Some great architecture!

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Some great architecture!

Truthfully it is said - a nation's values is revealed in the quality of its architecture. The current predominant style in Russia is nicknamed "Luzhkov style" (after the deposed mayor of Moscow who was responsible for such a lot of it) and, just like during the tsarist period, the current Russian style is copied in Armenia. However, unlike those tsarist times, the current Russian product is garbage, and the current Armenian copies of the garbage don't contain even a semblance of local styles and influences.

[Mos]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Truthfully it is said - a nation's values is revealed in the quality of its architecture. The current predominant style in Russia is nicknamed "Luzhkov style" (after the deposed mayor of Moscow who was responsible for such a lot of it) and, just like during the tsarist period, the current Russian style is copied in Armenia. However, unlike those tsarist times, the current Russian product is garbage, and the current Armenian copies of the garbage don't contain even a semblance of local styles and influences.

Well in some of the buildings you see Armenian style architecture used. In others you see an attempt at more modern/European style.

[ara87]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Well in some of the buildings you see Armenian style architecture used. In others you see an attempt at more modern/European style.

Well it's not just that they're trying to emulate modren European Architechture, b/c modern European/American architechture is actually very good. It's just that they're doing it poorly, either by designing it poorly, or by building it a decent building but putting it somewhere where it doesn't belong

[Mos]

Re: Armenia: Future Projects and Developments

Well it's not just that they're trying to emulate modren European Architechture, b/c modern European/American architechture is actually very good. It's just that they're doing it poorly, either by designing it poorly, or by building it a decent building but putting it somewhere where it doesn't belong

I think more the problem is that some buildings just look so out of place. I wish they would work on maintaining more of the Soviet Yerevan flavour. For example, the Northern Avenue just looks so out of place.