If Yerevan is going to spend a bunch of money on something architectural, it would be nice to see the Yerevan Cascade finished... it's beautiful, til you get to the top, and see a 200 foot pit...
A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
41–50 of 66 posts
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Frankly I'm struggling with the fact that there are links to that fascist shitrag on the front page of HN. I should have looked more carefully. For anyone else interested in the subject but not wanting to give the DM traffic, the discussion here is around the proposed demolition of the Old Terminal at Zvartnots Airport.
> Frankly I'm struggling with the fact that there are links to that fascist shitrag Maybe we should gather and burn its print copies /s It's an article. Enjoy it or not on its own merits.
It's an ad-supported site which I'd have preferred not to support. I don't want to read their 'articles', much like I don't want to click through to a breitbart article.
I guess it's all there though, I just missed it. I'll just have to be a bit more cautious as to what I'm clicking on when I'm on HN in future.
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#43That is a hideously ugly building. It doesn't say "city of the future" to me, as the author seems to suggest, but city of the past. And not the glorious past or the beautiful past, but a period of architecture dominated by harsh lines, masses of exposed concrete, and the idea of architecture expressing domination over the land and over the people who used it. Brutalism, here in the UK, is largely seen as an ugly mist…
That's likely subjective, as I think it's extremely aesthetically pleasing - I've always seen Brutalism as having strong links with the Bauhaus style, something else I have high regard for. I won't argue with your city of the past argument as I'm not sure I'd term it as the dominant architecture of a city of the future, but I think it definitely has a place. I would argue against Brutalism expressing domination over…
> Brutalism expressing domination over people - I've always seen it more as expressing function in form, which would be the opposite
It expresses the architect's idea of function, which may or may not have anything to do with the actual users. However, whenever the actual users of a building complain about the poor UX (noise, leaks, discomfort difficulty finding things in the layout) or their feeling of unhappiness induced by the blankness, it's traditional for Modernists to tell the public and users that they're wrong. It's that elitism which more than anything else characterises the failures of Modernism, of which Brutalism is a part.
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#44It looks really nice, but this picture is revealing: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/19/16/4396738-6185497-im... The bit on the left, I assume, is the modern terminal. Notice the scale. The old building is small, for modern use. If it gets preserved, they must find a way to generate some additional income, because it's probably too obsolete to do that as an actual airport.
At first glance, it looks like something from Star Wars. I do miss the bold architectures that were more than a glorified warehouse.
This reminds me of CDG-1, AKA the "Camembert", which is way smaller and in many ways terribly unpractical compared to CDG-2 but has that mid-century futurist vibe that makes it quite charming if you happen to be into architecture.
Outside: https://www.planitecbtp.setec.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/...
Travel through time and space: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4YQxmQXUAInJRM.jpg
This feels like it's from The Jetsons: https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2899/13922331726_fd05d69d1f_...
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never been to Schönefeld, but even Tegel is a bit of a disgrace for the main airport of the German capital. There's always Berlin Brandenburg, which should open any day now.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Brandenburg_Airport
It blows my mind how far behind schedule BER is. According to Wikipedia, construction started in 2006 and was scheduled to complete in October 2011 (aka about 5 years was allocated for construction). It's now almost October 2018. We're now 7 YEARS past the originally scheduled completion date. It's claimed that the airport won't open until Fall 2020. That means the airport won't open until at least 9 years past the o…
Based on its history I'm skeptical about the airport opening in 2020.
It probably would have been cheaper to flatten that damn thing in 2011 and start from scratch.
It's a fascinating story, though, of hubris, corruption and about what happens when you try to change an existing massive structure in the middle of construction.
One of the funnier stories was the first attempt to open it. Fire management systems were non-existant (actually they were there. The components were piled high on pallets, alas with no working plan to implement them).
So airport management suggested to hire 800 minimum wage folks. Supply them with cell phones (a total no!no! For emergency response), folding chairs and hi-viz vests to then distribute them strategically throughout the airport.
If they noticed something suspicious, like smoke or fire, they would call it in.
I leave it up to your imagination what the higher ups of the fire brigade thought of this brilliant plan. Especially with the memory of a catastrophic fire at Dusseldorf airport not too long ago.[1]
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCsseldorf_Airport_fire
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#46This is exactly the kind of thing I like to explore when travelling. Albania was amazing because these kind of relics are everywhere. There are no fences, guards, demolition or repair.
It would be nice if they could just leave it there, and let people explore it at their own risk.
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#47It looks really nice, but this picture is revealing: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/19/16/4396738-6185497-im... The bit on the left, I assume, is the modern terminal. Notice the scale. The old building is small, for modern use. If it gets preserved, they must find a way to generate some additional income, because it's probably too obsolete to do that as an actual airport.
The old building is likely small, not adapted to modern security, equipments, facilities and will cost much more in refurbishment and use. It also probably was not that well built and/or degraded for years. Just replace it, new will be better in this case.
I agree, it looks like it was all made cheaply from poured concrete that is now cracking and disintegrating.
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#48It looks really nice, but this picture is revealing: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/19/16/4396738-6185497-im... The bit on the left, I assume, is the modern terminal. Notice the scale. The old building is small, for modern use. If it gets preserved, they must find a way to generate some additional income, because it's probably too obsolete to do that as an actual airport.
The old building is likely small, not adapted to modern security, equipments, facilities and will cost much more in refurbishment and use. It also probably was not that well built and/or degraded for years. Just replace it, new will be better in this case.
> replace it
The movements for preservation of architecture would likely have something to say about that. A lot of people are tired of the whole demolish-build shtick, and yet others find it insulting in its disregard for what they find to be monuments. In my opinion, some of the most inspiring uses of space and architecture today are happening in ex-abandoned, ex-unused industrial buildings.
An example I've visited recently is the former Peugeot factory in Brussels [0] that is currently used for exhibitions, concerts, or just hanging out at the bars and food courts that have installed themselves there following a doctrine of minimal intervention. Shortly it will be transformed into a museum of modern art as an outpost of Centre Pompidou [1]. To quote the architects whose proposal won: "We want to radically engage with and trust what is there." That sentence pretty much sums up the trend I'm pointing out.
Another example is Rijeka, a city with a unique history, that has a heritage of an abundance of industrial architecture and very unique urban planning. Many of its industrial complexes lie abandoned, within earshot of city centre. Some of them are being brought back to life, spurred, in large part, by the European Capital of Culture 2020 that is happening there. This summer EASA took place there [1]. It used the revitalised Export building (in the photos look for the building that has "exportavo" witten on it). 600 people slept in the same hall for two weeks. I was there, it was a cool experiment.
[0] http://kanal.brussels/ [1] https://www.dezeen.com/2018/03/23/car-factory-transformed-ar... [2] https://www.flickr.com/photos/107959684@N04/sets/72157670142...
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#49I'm surprised at how much it's deteriorated in just 10 years if it was last open in 2008.
Re: A Soviet-era airport, once the height of luxury, faces demolition in Armenia
#50That is a hideously ugly building. It doesn't say "city of the future" to me, as the author seems to suggest, but city of the past. And not the glorious past or the beautiful past, but a period of architecture dominated by harsh lines, masses of exposed concrete, and the idea of architecture expressing domination over the land and over the people who used it. Brutalism, here in the UK, is largely seen as an ugly mist…
Yeah, it's nothing like 1-2 storey buildings with exposed brick and wood, often conjoined in pairs, triples or long lines, that take up large swaths of land on a small island.