URBAN STANDARDS

“Preserving the old, let’s build the new” is the slogan under which the large-scale construction of the Kamar Business Centre was undertaken in Yerevan.

The KAMAR Business Centre is an upscale Class A office building in Yerevan city centre. The Centre combines historical and modern architectural culture representing three time periods: the imperial era, embodied in the construction of the Yerevan branch of the Commercial Bank of Tiflis (architect Michael Ohanjanov), built with black tuff stone and called the “Black Bank”; the Soviet era, reflected through the Agricultural Bank building made of grey basalt and built with a combination of Armenian medieval architecture traditions and a progressive agricultural style; and today’s Independent Armenia, embodying a complex joining the two facades of these buildings, made of white marble.

The “Black Bank” and Agricultural Bank are historic monuments of Yerevan and have shaped this corner of the city. Over time, and with the appearance of new constructions, however, these buildings have lost their functions and fell in need of new solutions to their upkeep. Without this initiative’s intervention in 2013, the buildings, especially the Black Bank, would have collapsed.

The concept for a new building came from the idea of a dialogue across time, unifying that dialogue across centuries into a single object. The idea of a bridge — symbolised through an connecting the past and the present, was born. The modern structure designed by architects Ruben Hasratyan and Michael Hasratyan brings together buildings from three time periods — Tsarist, Soviet and independent Armenia — unified through their “financial” functionality.

The Centre harmoniously blends modern architecture, clean air and energy sufficient technologies and comfortable spaces. Environmentally safe materials were used during the construction of “Kamar” Business Centre, and energy saving systems were introduced. A vertical “green” wall has been created in the building of the Centre, which is the highest “living” wall in Europe, with a height of 20 meters and a total area of 160 square meters. The Green wall purifies the air, insulates it, reduces noise, and serves as a protective shield from the sun’s rays, reducing heat by between 8-10 degrees Celsius. To provide the necessary moisture, small waterfalls have been built under each wall, from where the water evaporates, creating additional moisture.

The entrance to the Kamar Business Centre is decorated with a mysterious arch, in the centre of which is the Tree of Life, a traditional Armenian symbols for longevity and prosperity.