PRESS RELEASE
Cafesjian Museum Foundation
15A Nalbandian Street, #8
Yerevan, Armenia
Contact: Madlene Minassian
Tel: 374-1-56-72-62
Fax: 374-1-56-15-89
E-mail: mamin@cmf.am
Web:

Yerevan, Armenia
September 7, 2004

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 café 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.

^ÓWe 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^Òs 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.^Ô 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.

The Cafesjian Museum Foundation was founded in April 2002 by the
Republic of Armenia and Gerard Cafesjian for the purpose of developing
a world-class international museum of contemporary art and a cultural
center for Yerevan.