Garage Stories: Yerevan’s Ordinary Architecture Takes Stage in Milano Trienale
Overlooked Armenian architecture on display
Cover photo:
Giovanni Emilio Galanello
While strolling through the streets of Yerevan, one can easily spot garages that profoundly vary in their appearance. In the Soviet era, these metal rectangular objects that conquered the public spaces in residential areas became not only symbols of ownership but also depositories of family history. Today, instead of parked cars, one finds libraries, coffee shops, workstations and other creative ways these garages have been repurposed. For an outsider, these garages might stand out but for locals, they are a familiar, overlooked part of the cityscape.
This very concept is being showcased this year when Armenia participated in one of the most prestigious exhibitions of art, design and architecture: Triennale di Milano, which will last till November.
Triennale Milano, since 1923, has been one of the world’s leading cultural institutions that promotes reflection and debate on global issues through the lens of design, architecture, and the visual and performing arts.
The Armenian Pavilion curated by architects Arsen Karapetyan, Yury Grigoryan, Bogdan Peric, Andrey Mikhalev, Aleksei Lashkov and Dana Smagina, brought together 27 participants to collaborate and showcase an exhibition that uniquely represented Armenia. The theme of this year’s program is “Inequalities”, and the Armenian Pavilion focused on a related topic called “ordinary architecture”.
Triennale Milano, since 1923, has been one of the world’s leading cultural institutions that promotes reflection and debate on global issues through the lens of design, architecture, and the visual and performing arts.
The Armenian Pavilion curated by architects Arsen Karapetyan, Yury Grigoryan, Bogdan Peric, Andrey Mikhalev, Aleksei Lashkov and Dana Smagina, brought together 27 participants to collaborate and showcase an exhibition that uniquely represented Armenia. The theme of this year’s program is “Inequalities”, and the Armenian Pavilion focused on a related topic called “ordinary architecture”.
The 18 sq. meters garage housed 27 distinct pieces. The participants included co-founders of the Library for Architecture and several others who responded to the open call for participation by the curators. Since all the pieces are displayed inside the garage, Karapetyan described it as a “Triennale inside Triennale”.
Karapetyan, one of the curators of the pavilion, underscored the importance of showcasing Armenia on global platforms and connecting with the world. He said this year has been rich for Armenia’s participation in similar international events. While talking about the decision to feature the garage as the main display object he said the garages’ existence and importance in the Armenian society are often overlooked.
Karapetyan, one of the curators of the pavilion, underscored the importance of showcasing Armenia on global platforms and connecting with the world. He said this year has been rich for Armenia’s participation in similar international events. While talking about the decision to feature the garage as the main display object he said the garages’ existence and importance in the Armenian society are often overlooked.
photo courtesy of Mitya Lyalin
Aleksei Lashkov, another curator, said that while architecture traditionally focuses on huge objects having a noticeable shape or message, this minimalist structure is what his friend calls “almost-nothing-architecture”, and a garage is a unit that stands out within that category of architecture.
While there is a growing trend of projects that focus on building more expensive, bigger developments with a financial benefit, Lashkov is of the view that it is very important to shed light on small units that are ordinary, unnoticed, yet paradigm shifting. The idea behind using a garage is an approach to advocate for the importance of preserving old architecture even though most architects want to focus on new expensive structures and big buildings.
Mr. Karapetyan echoed the same idea and noted how for some it is the only property they will ever own; for others, it is something completely an afterthought. He pointed to Armenia’sLibrary for Architecture repurposed garage as a unique, free of charge space for workshops. It is an example of how a garage can be used as a public space. Many art and architecture students use the space to produce their projects.
While there is a growing trend of projects that focus on building more expensive, bigger developments with a financial benefit, Lashkov is of the view that it is very important to shed light on small units that are ordinary, unnoticed, yet paradigm shifting. The idea behind using a garage is an approach to advocate for the importance of preserving old architecture even though most architects want to focus on new expensive structures and big buildings.
Mr. Karapetyan echoed the same idea and noted how for some it is the only property they will ever own; for others, it is something completely an afterthought. He pointed to Armenia’sLibrary for Architecture repurposed garage as a unique, free of charge space for workshops. It is an example of how a garage can be used as a public space. Many art and architecture students use the space to produce their projects.
Besides the curators, the 27 participants broughtArmenian elements to the pavilion, with their pieces adorning the inside of the garage.
Marianna Karapetyan, founder and creative director of Electric Architects, described her organization’s piece for the Armenian Pavilion. The piece is authored by Karen Badalyan, the art director and head architect of Electric Architects.
Their vision for the pavilion was to showcase a deeply authentic and unique Yerevanian piece. Initially, the team wanted to design a Pulpulak (a traditional public drinking fountain) for placement outside the garage but that could not be possible due to the rules of the Triennale. Keeping the same approach for designing something authentically Yerevanian, they decided to design a memorial board. The information usually varies on each memorial board. While some memorial boards are dedicated to family members, others celebrate prominent figures.
The piece fits well within the unnoticed and overlooked theme of the pavilion. These memorial boards are usually shown in stark contrast to their backdrops.
Marianna Karapetyan, founder and creative director of Electric Architects, described her organization’s piece for the Armenian Pavilion. The piece is authored by Karen Badalyan, the art director and head architect of Electric Architects.
Their vision for the pavilion was to showcase a deeply authentic and unique Yerevanian piece. Initially, the team wanted to design a Pulpulak (a traditional public drinking fountain) for placement outside the garage but that could not be possible due to the rules of the Triennale. Keeping the same approach for designing something authentically Yerevanian, they decided to design a memorial board. The information usually varies on each memorial board. While some memorial boards are dedicated to family members, others celebrate prominent figures.
The piece fits well within the unnoticed and overlooked theme of the pavilion. These memorial boards are usually shown in stark contrast to their backdrops.
photo courtesy of Giovanni Emilio Galanello
Another participant was Storaket, which produced an art piece by Narbeh Bedrossian and Karine Hakobyan. They told Urbanista that their piece was a tile composition made by layering different tiles together. This is often seen in Armenia outside apartments. It serves as a boundary outside their houses and on their staircases, subtly encroaching onto public space.
According to Bedrossian, this kind of tiling is seen everywhere around Yerevan. They decided on this idea when walking around Yerevan and seeing how every apartment has its own unique version. It is everywhere but in a different way, different pattern and different colours. It reflects how residents use public spaces to show their individual personality and uniqueness. The contrast also becomes clearer when wealthier residents add more expensive tiles or even a bigger staircase.
According to Bedrossian, this kind of tiling is seen everywhere around Yerevan. They decided on this idea when walking around Yerevan and seeing how every apartment has its own unique version. It is everywhere but in a different way, different pattern and different colours. It reflects how residents use public spaces to show their individual personality and uniqueness. The contrast also becomes clearer when wealthier residents add more expensive tiles or even a bigger staircase.
While some participants chose to focus on showcasing the ordinary objects of Yerevan, team Snkh took a different approach. Ashot and Armine Snkhchyan highlighted the problems in contemporary ordinary architecture. Ashot described their piece as a “dystopian view of Yerevan’s future” and this vision could apply to other big cities in developing countries grappling with rampant high-density construction and capitalism.
The objective was to show that modern residential buildings are only constructed with the motive of making a profit from the maximum square meters of construction. The public spaces are being converted into residential buildings with parking blocks.
photo courtesy of Giovanni Emilio Galanello
Ashot noted that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country had many public spaces with courtyards where children would play. Today, those spaces have been replaced by residential buildings. There has been a loss of green areas, walkways and parks, which are replaced by shopping malls.
Their piece showcased an exaggerated, dystopian view of Yerevan, with the ultra-dense fabric of apartments combined in a maze-like structure, with no streets, no doors, no windows, just an endless grid of apartments.
“So that was our view of ordinary architecture, and that is, of course, a nightmare, which we hope we will not get to..,” he said.
Their object was inspired by an Italian radical architecture group called Super Studio from the 1960s and 70s which created the concept of an endless city. It is designed to look like it’s made of limestone or gypsum where remnants of previous walls can be seen.
In today’s urban fabric, there are many newly built high-rise buildings that are unaffordable for local residents. Among the participants, team Snkh stood out for their desire to represent Armenia through critical reflection instead of romanticism.
“We have to face the problems, we have to talk about the problems and share them with the rest of the world”, Ashot Snkhchyan said.
photo courtesy of Giovanni Emilio Galanello
The overall project was supported by the National Library of Armenia, the Library For Architecture and several corporate sponsors including Glasswork, Scandic’s LLC, Green Construction and Flos who helped with the Triennale fee and production of the pavilion. The production of each piece inside, however, was funded by their authors.
The Armenian Pavilion challenged the conventional ideas of ordinary architecture and invited its viewers to reimagine how they perceive architecture in Armenia. It not only highlighted the importance of often overlooked and underappreciated elements of Armenian life, but also reminded the public to recognise their importance.
The Armenian Pavilion challenged the conventional ideas of ordinary architecture and invited its viewers to reimagine how they perceive architecture in Armenia. It not only highlighted the importance of often overlooked and underappreciated elements of Armenian life, but also reminded the public to recognise their importance.
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