The multifunctional complex with the Intercontinental hotel is to be built on the slope of the Kanaker plateau, which offers a breathtaking panorama of the ancient Armenian capital and a view of the biblical Mount Ararat, on the site of one of the most famous buildings in Yerevan of the Soviet period - the Youth Palace. The so-called "Krtsats Kukuruz" was a giant cylinder, cut with characteristic oval windows and crowned with a "flying saucer" observation deck. It was erected in 1972 by architects G. G. Poghosyan, A. A. Tarkhanyan and S. E. Khachikyan and for many years was a symbol of the city and its tallest building, visible from absolutely any point. However, in 2006, after Avangard Motors LLC became the owner of the building, it was unexpectedly recognized as not complying with the seismic resistance requirements and was demolished. One of the leitmotifs of the dismantling of the high-rise was the desire of its owner to build on this site the "eighth wonder of the world", a striking piece of modern architecture that could give Yerevan a new high-rise dominant and announce this city to the whole world. It was with the aim of finding such a project that an international architectural competition was announced in October 2009. The competition aroused great interest all over the world: the organizing committee received almost a thousand applications for participation and about 300 projects, including more than 20 works from Russia (in March this year they were presented at an exhibition at the Museum of Architecture, which we have already written about).
During the first round of the competition, which at first was supposed to be the only one, the winner was not revealed. First, information appeared that the second and third prizes went to little-known European bureaus, then a short-list of six participants was formed, whose works, in the opinion of the jury, most fully corresponded to the requirements of the technical specification. Kiyokazu Arai's project also got into this six, invited to participate in the second round, which in the end was recognized as the best. The Japanese architect bypassed his rivals not only with the most rational, in the opinion of the jury, the layout of the complex and its futuristic appearance, but also with the ability to build high-rise buildings in seismically unfavorable regions. As for the timing and cost of implementing this ambitious project, Arai's plan will cost the capital of Armenia $ 200 million. The city promises to agree on it in the coming months, and the construction itself will take 3-4 years. The Japanese architect is already making the necessary adjustments to his project. The official name of the complex has also changed: now it is called simply and tastefully - "Avangard".
Like almost all participants in this competition, the snow-covered peak of Ararat became the main reference point and center of the coordinate system for Kiyokazu Arai. However, if European architects, as a rule, designed a high-rise volume that could compete with the silhouette of the biblical mountain, then Arai remained true to the traditional Japanese desire for integrity and contemplation. The skyscraper he created not only grows out of the landscape, but becomes its logical and integral continuation. In plan, the high-rise volume has a conditionally triangular shape, as it is composed of several segments - two triangles with rounded long sides and a cube embedded in them. With its sharp angle, the skyscraper faces Ararat, and its sloping rounded sides, lined with white and black pixels, unambiguously resemble the mountain slopes covered with snow. The third façade, looking at the city and located exactly along the axis of Teryan Street, is completely glazed, but the tongue does not turn to call it a banal transparent plane - it is so bizarre and diverse it is curved. It seems that a powerful hurricane passed through it, but in fact, such plasticity is explained by the architect's desire to orient the maximum number of rooms to the biblical mountain.
In addition to the hotel, the multifunctional center project includes a business center, a residential complex and a parking lot for 2,000 cars. The latter is located underground, and the other two volumes are designed as horizontally elongated and bent in different directions - also for the sake of a view of Ararat, of course! - plates. The resulting arcs seem to embrace the hotel, parting in front of the mountain and, on the contrary, narrowing towards Teryan Street and playing the role of peculiar propylae for the city. Between them there is a green pedestrian area with several terraces. In general, of the 4.5 hectares allotted for the construction of the new complex, the Japanese architect occupied only half, and the rest of the area was allocated for landscaping and landscape design. This decision delighted all members of the jury, because thanks to it, Yerevan acquired not only a new high-rise dominant, but also a vast square, emphasizing the charm of the existing relief.
