Nestled in a bowl at the end of a narrow river valley in
the remote northern Armenian province of Lori, the
village of Debet is far off the beaten track. So when the
low, white outlines of the Children of Armenia Fund’s
(COAF) sensuously curved Smart Center come into
view, you are momentarily astonished. Rather than
having risen from the ground, the light, pavilion-like
structure, by Lebanese-Armenian architect Paul
Kaloustian, appears to have descended from the skies.
‘I think the locals thought it was a space centre,
with secret technology and hackers,’ says Shahane
Halajyane, initiative director for the fund’s Smart
programme. ‘COAF has been working here for years,
but the villagers didn’t relate this building to them.
They were sure it was some place for rich people.’
She should know. Although Halajyane now lives in the
Armenian capital, Yerevan, she grew up 15 minutes
from here. ‘We decided to bring in groups of children
and parents during construction,’ she continues. ‘The
idea was to give local inhabitants a sense of ownership.’
COAF, a socio-educational NGO, was founded by
American entrepreneur Garo Armen, and has been
operating in Armenia since 2003. Now, with the launch
of its Smart Center initiative – Debet’s is the first
of 20, subject to funding – it is seeking to bring the
21st century to rural areas, through after-school »THE CHILDREN OF ARMENIA
FUND’S NEW SMART CENTER
IN LORI PROVINCE WAS
DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT
PAUL KALOUSTIAN TO
EMBRACE ITS ENVIRONMENTArchitecture