Smart Center
Paul Kaloustian Studio is a Beirut based Architecture and Design practice working on projects ranging from buildings to interiors.
He received his Masters at Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked at Herzog and de Meuron in Basel.
Paul has taught at the Boston Architecture Center (2000) and at the American University of Beirut (2009-10).
He received the Moukbel Award and the Order of Engineers and Architects Award.
His project “House in a Forest” was exhibited at the13th Venice Biennale and at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and in London in the exhibition “Atlas of the Unbuilt World”
Project: Smart Center
Architect: PAUL KALOUSTIAN ARCHITECT
Client: COAF
Location: Armenia – Lori Province
Built-up Area: 4200m2 + 755 m2 (hotel)
Date of completion: 2016
Structure: Tigran Khachiyan
Electro-Mechanical: Mangassarian
Local Architect: Urban Unit
Contractor: Kanaka
Team: Nathalie Fatte – Viken Khatcherian – Lara Assaker
Local Architect: Urban Unit
The under-construction Smart Center building is located in the north Armenian province of Lori, the site is a magnificent piece of land surrounded by majestic mountains.
The structure’s organic form embraces the landscape by creating a sinuous ribbon like walkway creating a 7000 m2 courtyard. The one floor building is spread horizontally while following the topography of the site.
The Smart Center accommodates a program dedicated to education and community with computer labs, classes, an auditorium and a restaurant while other adjacent functions include sports fields, open air workshops and an outdoor auditorium.
A separate small structure includes a day care and a nursery and another houses a half underground guest house facing the southern sun with 14 rooms and amenities .
The Smart Center acts more like a landscape than a building giving freedom for the visitor to have his own path creating experiences indoor as well as outdoor.
Only a part of the building is enclosed by a glass and concrete envelope generating relationships between the inside and the outside that are treated equally. The structure extends with a continual roof aiming to provide an open environment for knowledge and personal exploration.
