We Have No Experience in Constructing High-Rise Buildings: Architect Talks About the 270-Meter Skyscraper

On August 19, the Armenian company "Laura Investment" and the Arab company "Baynona Engineering Consultancy" signed a memorandum of intent in Yerevan, which outlines plans to construct the first skyscraper in the capital of Armenia, standing at a height of 270 meters. In regard to this topic, ArmDaily.am spoke with architect Levon Vardanyan.

"In the entire urban development environment, a skyscraper cannot exist in isolation; I need to understand the complete construction plan a bit, so that I can at least have an idea of what to expect. To be honest, I have neither seen nor have taken an interest in it. The seismic norms established after the earthquake require special structural calculations after a certain height. There are seismic zones like California and Tokyo, where buildings are constructed in a similar way and it doesn’t seem to be a concern. I don’t know who among the construction workers will be involved in the assembly, what kind of technology will be used. During the construction of Moscow City, they had no experience and had to call in construction organizations from abroad—starting from Turks to Chinese. Anyone who could work was involved there because they lacked that experience. We too have no experience in constructing high-rise buildings. But that doesn’t worry us; these are all solvable issues. I am interested in the entire construction project so that I can understand what it’s about from a future urban development perspective. Any structure can be built, but it must be justified and comprehensible,” said Vardanyan.