The Cafesjian Museum Foundation Announces Selection of Architect and Releases Preliminary Design for the Gerard L. Cafesjian Museum of Contemporary Art.
Architect David Hotson Will Design $25 Million Contemporary Art Museum in Armenia

Minneapolis, MN and Yerevan, Armenia --The Cafesjian Museum Foundation has selected New York Architect David Hotson to design the Gerard L. Cafesjian Museum of Contemporary Art, which will be built in Yerevan, the capital city of the Republic of Armenia.

David Hotson, Principal of the firm of David Hotson Architect, is known for the following projects: the design of the United Nations Offices for the Secretary General; the design of the new facilities for the media art organization, Eyebeam Atelier, located in West Chelsea in Manhattan; the design of the residence of architect Santiago Calatrava; and acting as Principal Architect working with designer Maya Lin for the Museum of African Art in Manhattan, New York.

“To work in Armenia, a nation with such a powerful history and culture on such an extraordinary site is an immense opportunity. The design positions the Cafesjian Museum between the history and the future of the Armenian Nation. It will beckon to the promise of Armenia's future while reflecting on its powerful heritage,” says David Hotson who has fused many elements of the Armenian culture into his design for the Museum.

The preliminary design, presented on September 7th of 2004 to a Yerevan audience, treats the principal Museum building as an extension of the Cascade, completing an animated pathway linking Tamanyan Park to the Monument by exterior stairway and interior escalators.

The Museum building will provide a public plaza, ornamental pool, sculpture courts, a cafe and an exterior cinema all accessible to passers-by as well as visitors to the Museum itself. A prominent glass tower, housing the Cafesjian glass collection, creates a vivid emblem for the Museum on the skyline and compositionally balances the cinema screen while preserving the central visual access of the Cascade. The Museum design organizes major circulation paths to create framed vistas of important symbolic elements of the surrounding cityscape, such as the Mother Armenia Monument and Mount Ararat.

“We have been working with David for over two years and are very excited to involve him in this project. I am particularly impressed with his reaction to the site and the surrounding monuments, and by the way he is using computer design techniques to design spaces that capture specific views in visual “frames” in surprising places throughout the museum. David has demonstrated tremendous sensitivity in his design. Unlike several of the designs that we rejected, Hotson's design emphasizes materials and construction techniques readily available in Armenia. This allows us to put more money and jobs into the Armenian economy. His experience, vision, and understanding of the opportunity, make him a great choice to design the museum. His preliminary concept shows tremendous insight.” said Gerard L. Cafesjian, founder of the Cafesjian Museum Foundation.

Slated for construction in 2004-2006, the museum will house Mr. Cafesjian's pre-eminent collection of glass artwork, including the definitive collection of works by renowned artists Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova. The permanent displays will also include a broad range of prominent 20th century pieces including both paintings and sculpture. Additionally, the museum will host a program of world-class travelling exhibitions.

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The Cafesjian Museum Foundation is set to launch this year the construction of the Gerard L. Cafesjian Museum of Contemporary Art in central Yerevan. Of the 35 firms that submitted proposals in the international design competition for the museum's design, three were selected as finalists in April 2003; The final winner, to be announced soon, will provide a design of world-class architectural quality that will physically symbolize Armenia's traditional values. The museum will house a significant permanent collection as well as influential traveling exhibitions and will establish Yerevan as a major cultural destination. Its location, known as the Cascade, will be fully renovated at a cost of $3-5mln, or 20% of the total $25 mln the Cafesjian Foundation has thus far allocated for the project.

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