Innovation meets building challenges

Undaunted by the challenges of a steep hillside site in a precarious seismic zone, a harsh climate, an unpredictable energy grid, onerous building codes, a tight budget and limited access to materials and skilled constructors, we delivered classrooms, offices for faculty and administrators and a residence for the president of the university in an innovative, flexible building.

The American University of Armenia expanded their rapidly growing campus in Yerevan state-of-the-art academic building complex. The design is an environmentally sensitive solution that creates alternative answers to the university’s energy needs. From simple concepts such as setting the building orientation to minimize heat gain in the summer and maximize light in the winters to sophisticated innovations that include a thermal flue that captures heat in winter and induces cooling in summer, a breathing stone wall that adds additional insulation, light shelves that reflect low winter sun deep into the south facing rooms. A solar farm provides energy year round and energy-recycling wheels capture expended energy and reuse it.