In December 2018, The Economist named Armenia the country of the year, referring, of course, to the striking political changes in the country - the "revolution of love". On the same day, the Lebanese architect Hashim Sarkis was appointed curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2020. For both countries, these are in their own way unprecedented events that brought them to the front pages of the media. And between these seemingly unrelated episodes, a kind of metaphorical connection can be traced: the most important architectural event of the year in Armenia was the implemented project of an architect from Lebanon.
In May of this year, an educational center SMART was opened in the Lori region in the north of the country. An important, even unique fact, which is understandably overshadowed by political changes, with which the new institution, of course, has nothing to do: they began to build its building back in 2016. Foreign charitable foundations, founded in response to the current socio-economic situation in the country, create modern educational centers that become local catalysts for the renewal of public infrastructure. Architecture in this context serves as an important tool for these transformations.
The idea of opening the center belongs to the American businessman of Armenian origin Garo Armen. In 2003, he founded the Children of Armenia charitable foundation, the main goal of which is to promote the development of rural settlements in the country, attracting high technologies, progressive educational methods, etc. The SMART center in Lori region was the culmination of the foundation's long history of out-of-school educational programs. This is the first "from scratch" construction project implemented by the Children of Armenia Foundation. Before that, the organization had opened many centers - but all of them were located in the renovated buildings of kindergartens, schools and other social infrastructure facilities.
The SMART center, designed by the Lebanese bureau of Paul Kalustyan, is located in the untouched picturesque mountain landscapes of the Lori region. The construction site was chosen so that the center could uniformly serve at least six villages (Dsegh, Debet, Yegegnut, Vakhagni, Dzoragyukh, Chkalov) 10 kilometers in diameter.
Lori region is one of the most problematic in the economic sense, the outflow of population from there is considered one of the highest in Armenia. The idea of opening a SMART center is connected, among other things, with the solution of this problem - in the future, to stop the outflow of the population, finding ways for the productive activity of residents in their native area.
The bold design of the building is associated with the optimistic outlook of the author of the project, Paul Kalustyan, for the future: the new generation should be proud not only of the past and demonstrate not only this pride; young people should not only look back, only at medieval churches. This approach is clearly modernist, especially against the background of the general picture of post-Soviet Armenian architecture, which made the development and reorganization of the paradigms of the past centuries its new "project" (this position, we note, is characteristic not only for Armenia, but also for many other former republics of the USSR).
The idea of the project is based on nature and the inspiration it gives. Kalustyan strove to build a building that would be perceived as part of the landscape, organically coexist with it. Therefore, he deliberately gave architecture a secondary, background role, it "works" for nature, and nature itself becomes, in his words, a landmark for the building.
The axis of the project is a large yard with an area of 7500 m2; it was surrounded by the building of the SMART center with an area of 3700 m2. This is a one-story building that follows the contour of the relief. Its ribbon structure, like the tentacles of an octopus, flows down the landscape, creating a winding ribbon path around the huge courtyard.
From inside the building, behind transparent glass, it is perceived as an extension of the interior, erasing all visual boundaries between the building and nature.
The approach, typical of Japanese minimalism, is to draw nature into the building. And the aesthetics of minimalism itself here acquires more free manifestations, partly recalling
some SANAA buildings.
The thin plastic of the building tends to be weightless. The bends of the form, according to the author, never fully reveal the space, creating a specific sense of mystery. At the same time, a flowing space without rigid functional and spatial boundaries emphasizes the theme of freedom as the basis of education. It also creates a sense of community and active dialogue.
The main part of the building is an open IT space. Its wings, without additional boundaries, house studios, a library, a lobby, an exhibition space, and an auditorium. All of them face the courtyard, and the building as a whole is perceived as a continuous cycle of the educational program.
The SMART Center strives to be involved in the physical and mental landscape. Its architecture initially raises the question of the attachment of local residents to their land, an instrument that would strengthen the connection of people with their small homeland. Its architecture is an alternative approach to the construction of connection with the terrain. A new gesture, a new challenge: how to create local identity with modern methods, and not just mechanically repeat the forms of the past, formally submitting to the context? The focus is on nature and a completely new aesthetic language for this region, which, however, strives to be not alien, but authentic.
The SMART Center is conceived as the most progressive way of community development in Armenia. In the future, the fund intends to create a similar center in each region of the country.
The scheme for the appearance of significant buildings in modern Armenia has already been established: an investor from the diaspora creates a charitable foundation, and with it - a center with modern architecture. This is not the first case of founding an educational center, moreover, not the first with the participation of a Lebanese architect (suffice it to recall the TUMO projects developed by Bernard Khoury in different cities of Armenia). Garo Armen sees the potential of Armenia in education and knowledge. In his opinion, the inhabitants of the countryside should not be isolated from the world.
Despite the fact that, for various reasons, Armenia did not participate in the architectural biennial in Venice this year, Paul Kalustyan's project is fully consistent with the agenda of this international exhibition and gives great potential for the development of the Lori region with its function and philosophy. Over the six months that have passed since the opening, the local population is very fond of the new building. This building has become a real attraction there, not only physically, but also socially.
