2023 Nursery in Armavir, Armenia
WORK IN PROGRESS
Texts
SUB UMBRA
Sub umbra alarum tuarum protege me (Ps 16, 8)
After winning the competition to build a school in Armenia for the COAF (Children of Armenia Fund), in Armavir, we were commissioned to build a nursery at the entrance to their new Smart Campus.
The three-story school is located at the top of a central hill on the campus so that the view of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s Ark remained after the flood, is perfect. The nursery, with only one floor, will be simple, economical, and controlled. For the new nursery, we have designed a large concrete cover, a shade, as if it were a large table. 3 m high and 6.6 m square column grid, all made of grey reinforced concrete. It will be a large table measuring 18.18 x 18.18 x 3.00 m. A gray table in a white box. The walls that will surround the enclosure will also be white, guaranteeing the requested security. At the entrance to the campus, a small control booth and a vertical element are designed to be a reference for the new constructions, which will have the same height as Noah’s Ark, 15 m.
The project recalls Karl Bötticher’s ideas around the Kernform (the form to resolve mechanical issues) and the Kunstform (to resolve symbolic issues). Kernform is reflected on the concrete table, the structure, and Kunstform on the white box.
The images of the models show very well the design strategy. The clear idea remains.
