New Yerevan

[ED]

http://www.newyerevan.ru/rus/live/?lang=en

[Azatutyun]

Tamanyan must be turning in his grave at the sight of all this glass and steel.

 

The authorities obviously and unsurprisingly lack the brains to tell developers to respect the classical tuf architecture envisaged by Tamanyan so Yerevan keeps at least what is left of its character.

[hytga]

Tamanyan must be turning in his grave at the sight of all this glass and steel.

 

The authorities obviously and unsurprisingly lack the brains to tell developers to respect the classical tuf architecture envisaged by Tamanyan so Yerevan keeps at least what is left of its character.

 

 

i totally agree. although the design is modern and neat and stuff, it contradicst to the overall spirit and theme of the city.

 

it looks as though the people who authorized the design are Ezdi. they have no tase, and blend all and any color that comes to mind

Edited May 26, 2004 by hytga

[_Anka_]

you should see how these yezdis have ruined other bulidings in yerevan for a more modern look which doesn't even match with its surroundings. It's nothing new anymore.

[Teutonic Knight]

The funny thing is that Northern Avenue was in Tamanyans plan, he just never got to finish the job.

I agree though that the way they are doing it is ugly and does not match the rest of Yerevan. It seems like the guy who designed those buildings was on crack.

[ARR]

I wonder what you guys mean by the rest of Yerevan. Is it just the Kentron, the neighborhoods with ugly Soviet era apartment buildings, or parts that are just villages attached to each other? I think Yerevan may as well have modern styled buildings, too.

[15levels]

There is so much talent in Armenia, I am sure in architecture just as well. If the government failed to find an original concept for the architecture of the most central part of the city- they should have given this job to Dutch. Look at them, experiments, beautiful designs, functional, modern, anything u like. I guess in the end its going to look neat on the background of the buildings of the Soviet Era, but I think Yerevan deserves better. My 2 cents.

[gamavor]

I very much agree with Rouben. Dutch are the best at architectural design and aesthetics and preservation of the cultural heritage. Actually I was delighted to know the son of one of the main architects of Amsterdam. Yerevan at present needs desperately modernization. Don't forget that architecture is not only design drawing and construction, but most of all functionality and convenience of space and its fitting with the human beings and their social lifestyle and habits.

[Proud EXPAT]

Don't say EZDI's cause they are actually fellow Armenians that build the new uncharacteristic crap.

 

These modern boring and flat buildings were bound to be erected sooner or later, just like the ugliest Armenian church on earth in Yerevan (St. Gregory the Illuminator.)

 

People are too afraid to stand up and speak about this issue here in Armenia, that is why every residential apartment building has an attached grocery food store in front of their building, taking up half the sidewalk. IT IS DAMN UGLY! But, it's too late I suppose. I think it's time to focus on our other cities now, such as Gyumri and make sure they don't get out of hand also.

[ARR]

I highly doubt that all these buildings were designed or built by Ezdis. But this is Yerevan and we love it.

 

http://www.yerevanarmenia.com/images/From%20roof/DSC05331.JPG

 

http://www.yerevanarmenia.com/images/From%20roof/DSC04475.JPG

 

http://www.yerevanarmenia.com/images/From%20roof/DSC04924.JPG

 

More images of Yerevan from roof

[Armat]

Seeing new construction in modern style minimum shows economical prosperity, opportunity and lets be honest guys higher standards do have higher price tags and frankly those buildings looked lot better then hundreds of steal and glass buildings in downtown LA or NY

I rather see prosperous Yerevan then esthetically pretty poor desperate Yerevan.

 

Ideally sure I want the best for Yerevan but realistically where is the money coming!!!

[ED]

you know guys, I remember those years (1988-1993) Yerasxavan to be exact, from among many fighters were Eyzdis who stood up and were fighting along side with Armenians, they never consider there self’s anything but Armenians, and when asked by the reporter what are you doing fighting here, Yezdi fighter replied

"menq mer supr hoghnenq pashtpanum"

 

I never felt anything but proud to have them as loyal and devoted citizens of Armenia, besides we be only be stuck with Aparan for our jokes

[Armen]

I highly doubt that all these buildings were designed or built by Ezdis. But this is Yerevan and we love it.

Big photos

[Stormig]

I don't know what's wrong with this computer here right now, but I can't copy-paste "The Death of Green Spaces" by Edik Baghdasaryan - neither the article nor the URL - among a whole bunch of things!!! Someone seek that for me?

[Azat]

I don't know what's wrong with this computer here right now, but I can't copy-paste "The Death of Green Spaces" by Edik Baghdasaryan - neither the article nor the URL - among a whole bunch of things!!! Someone seek that for me?

User Error.

[Azat]

The Death of Green Spaces

by Edik Baghdasaryan

28 May 2004

 

 

They may have botanical names, but there is no disguising that the cafes blossoming in Yerevan are destroying parks – and bearing rich fruits for public officials.

 

YEREVAN, Armenia – In 1988, the large, leafy public square next to the Opera House in Yerevan was renamed Freedom Square, in honor of the movement that eventually led the country to independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

 

With its benches, open spaces, and trees, the square has long been a popular place for people to come and relax. Grandparents come to take their grandchildren for a walk, kids to roller-skate, and couples to romance each other. It has also long served as a gathering point for the opposition.

 

All that is changing at alarming speed, however, as the square's green spaces are paved over to make room for cafes, restaurants, and dance clubs. So many of these places have sprung up that in some corners of the square it is impossible to tell where one establishment stops and another begins – the outdoor tables and chairs all run together, and the music from competing loudspeakers merges.

 

 

Every time a café is built, another bit of public space is lost. Here, dozens of trees have been felled, benches have been ripped up, and grass has been replaced by cement patios. It's a phenomenon that can be seen across the city. According to the Social Ecological Association, more than 700 hectares of trees have been chopped down over the past decade in Yerevan’s construction boom.

 

“I don’t bring my grandson [to the park] anymore, because there are cafes everywhere and no benches,” said Sargis Torosian, a 72-year-old pensioner. “We used to spend every evening here, but now we have no place to go.”

 

“What happened to the Himalayan cedars that are so rare in our city? Or the grapevines and persimmon trees that used to grow where the Astral Disco is now?” asks biologist Gohar Oganezova. “Most of the firs have dried up over time as their roots come up against the concrete base of the cafes. A plane tree whose branches got entangled in the fence has withered. Two years ago, it was a wonderful, viable tree. The fir trees along the path next to the Atlantic Café are drying up, too. Last season they were almost leafless, their roots are so damaged.”

 

By law, it shouldn't be happening this way. According to government records, the building permits for most of the cafes violate the city's own ecological and planning standards. The rules say that before construction can begin on a new establishment, an owner must submit a design that meets the approval of ecologists. According to 2002 data from the Ecology Ministry, only one of the 12 cafes in Opera Square, the Astral, followed that procedure.

 

Yerevan’s chief architect, Narek Sargisian, defends the onslaught of development as a market response to public demand. “If so many cafes are being built, it means that there is a demand for them," he said. Sargisian admits that the park's planners didn’t anticipate the displacement effect that the retail establishments would have on people who are looking for a public green space to relax in. On the other hand, he said, “the cafes are always full.”

 

But they’re not making much money, or so believes Srbuhi Harutiunian, head of the Social Ecological Association. Harutiunian said his group had undertaken an unofficial survey of the park's café and restaurant owners and came up with surprising results.

 

“We found that 40 percent of these establishments are unprofitable," Harutiunian said. “Among the rest, 40 percent don’t worry about profit at all [and are more interested in the prestige of their location], and the remaining 20 percent secure a profit only by not paying their taxes.”

 

Yet the building continues. To understand why, it's necessary to look at who’s behind the chattering crowds, loud music, and frothy cappuccinos.

 

THE WINDFALL FROM CUTTING TREES

 

Ordinary Armenian businesspeople patronize the restaurants and cafes around Opera Park, but they certainly don't own them. So far, at least, it seems that ownership is a privilege reserved for the political elite – members of parliament, ministers, influential bureaucrats, and their cronies. The concreting over of Yerevan's green spaces has been enabled by a loophole in the city's law on allocation of land that has allowed the city to chop up and sell small café-size plots that it owns. Any plot larger than 20 square meters must be sold at public auction; anything less can be quietly sold to any buyer, for any price. Former Mayor Robert Nazarian, a man appointed by the president, was a champion of the loophole.

 

Although he is no longer in office, Nazarian's legacy of political favoritism continues to deprive the city treasury of public funds and to line the pockets of government officials who "bought" parcels of land. A case in point: recently, according to reliable sources, a café in Freedom Park that was owned by a senior government official sold for $250,000. The official had spent $15,000 on the land on which the café has constructed. His final take after including construction costs? More than $220,000.

 

Some estimates of the total losses to the state treasury from corrupt land sales near the Opera, where 15 companies have built cafes, exceed $1 million.

 

Typically, the new owner begins to expand his cafe. After the event, the Mayor’s Office “legalizes” the expansion of the café rather than taking action against the owners – who are high-level public officials.

 

Whatever the procedure, the results can be gargantuan. In early 2002, Nazarian "sold" a 20-square-meter plot of parkland to a company (inappropriately) named Magnolia. The area of the plot has continued to expand until today. According to the city's Architecture and Planning Department, the Magnolia Café occupies a staggering 2,615 square meters, making it the largest establishment in the park. The businessman who managed to take over so much land? Grigor “Bellagio Grish” Margarian, a member of parliament from the Orinats Yerkir Party.

 

Nazarian has explicitly intervened in some developments. In January 2002, a company named Only Merriment requested permission to buy a plot of land and build a video arcade next to Freedom Square. Permission was granted, and approval from the city planning department awarded. One month later, Only Merriment was allowed to acquire an additional 312-square-meter plot of land adjacent to the arcade site, to build an outdoor café.

 

Then, one month after that, Nazarian abruptly amended both decisions and issued blanket permission to Only Merriment to build a combined arcade-café, although this hybrid had never been approved by the city’s architecture department. Only Merriment was re-registered as Atlantic Garden and, according to official documents, was authorized to occupy 332 square meters in a public tender. Today, it’s hard to tell how much of the park Atlantic Garden occupies – much more than 332 square meters, though, since, during construction the building was considerably expanded by its owner. The owner? Anush Ghazaryan (better known as Kamvolny Anush, or Pretty Anush), a man widely thought to enjoy the protection of National Security Minister Karlos Petrosian.

 

Levon Khachatrian, a member of parliament, has also benefited from the generosity of the Mayor’s Office. Just as with Only Merriment and Magnolia, the major expansion of his café was within the law: Khachatrian first received a 20-square-meter plot and then permission to expand the plot. Khachatrian's café today obscures part of the Opera House from Sayat-Nova Street.

 

Asked recently if any establishment in Freedom Square of the area near the Opera House was built according to city-approved plans, chief architect Sargisian replied with one word: “No.”

 

KEEPING PUBLIC RECORDS PRIVATE

 

Official corruption in Armenia is a problem recognized by a host of international organizations. The Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been at the forefront of international efforts to bring attention to the problem and help the government tackle it, in part with the help of a joint OSCE-Armenian task force. President Robert Kocharian has even appointed a special adviser to coordinate the fight.

 

So why hasn't anything been done to stop the corrupt practices that are doing obvious damage to public life in the capital? “Unfortunately, the people with power in this city are above the law,” says biologist Oganezova, voicing a common public sentiment. “But they don’t realize that they, too, lose. We lose our city’s environment, literally and figuratively."

 

He may have final approval over all new construction and land sales in the capital, but chief architect Sargisian says he can do nothing. “I try to do everything in my power, but there are too many senior officials in our government. They build these structures and consider themselves to be above the law,” he said. But, as someone who has kept his post through three mayors, Sargisian has become vulnerable to accusations by some nongovernmental organizations that he allows the situation to continue.

 

In November 2003, two months before he was dismissed from office, Mayor Nazarian admitted to reporters that he had come under pressure by government authorities to approve the land sales. Ninety-nine percent of the cafes near the Opera House were illegal structures, he acknowledged, adding, “We did not approve these designs.” But none of the structures was torn down. In fact, since he made those remarks, new ones have gone up.

 

According to City Deputy Kamo Areyan, current Mayor Yervand Zakharian has given his staff a “strict order” to examine how building licenses and land sales are approved.

 

Armenia's Association of Investigative Journalists has tried several times to gain access to mayoral decisions on land allocations during the period from 1997 to 2003, without success. Zakharian has refused to provide the group with this public information and has not given an explanation for his refusal. President Kocharian has refused to intervene. The matter is now with the courts.

 

Edik Baghdasaryan is the editor-in-chief of the Armenian daily ***HETQ*** and a member of the Association of Investigative Journalists.

 

 

 

 

 

Edik Baghdasaryan is the editor-in-chief of the Armenian daily HETQ and a member of the Association of Investigative Journalists.

[Stormig]

That's the one, thanks.

I don't know what's with that computer - certain definitions or something? I couldn't open links in new windows by left-click, for goodness' sake. (That's right, I use the mouse with my left hand. )

[Arpa]

Even if this thread is about New Yerevan..

Let’s see how Old Yerevan looked like .

Thank you Hetq and Ararat Davtyan.

Enjoy:

 

http://hetq.am/eng/multimedia/slideshows/13/

 

I wish I could isolate the particular slide show, and that the slides were labeled as to what buildings they are and where. I may have seen them and could almost identify them...

How about it our friends in Yerevan, Ashot, Aratta and many more?