School can be fun. That, anyway, is the message many architecture firms try to convey in their designs for the
buildings holding them. Granted the commission to create a new middle school in the Armenian capital, Storaket
Architectural Studio worked with a small number of familiar forms, materials and colours in a strategy that makes
more of less, formally speaking. As the school name is derived from the first letter of the Armenian alphabet, Ayb,
perhaps that back-to-basics approach is appropriate. Well, it usually is anyway.In fact, the school in its first phases will be used as an elementary facility, later converting to middle school. It joins a
pair of previous buildings on the site, to produce an educational cluster, and will itself accommodate 240 students.
The massing is basically a box, with a couple of twists and attachments to it. The volume rises two floors above a
slightly recessed ground floor. The upper section is something like a rectangular, framed container, with apertures on
its long elevations that are developed as minor frames themselves. The more communal spaces, such as auditorium,
forum and cafeteria, are positioned on the lowest of the levels, while the classrooms occupy the upper two. So far, so
logical... And this adheres to the same sectional organisation as the two nearby blocks. But thereafter the similarities
step back.Yerevan, Armenia
Storaket Architectural
Studio
Photography by Sona Manukyan and Ani Avagyan<GPDVT°BSDIJUFDUVSF>hinge 275_20