LITTLE-KNOWN LOCAL WINS ARMENIAN MUSEM COMMISSION,
NOT COMPETITION
HOTSON BESTS HIMMELBLAU
ARCHITECTS NEWSPAPER
O2-16-2005
NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
In September, the Cafesjian Museum Foundation announced that New
York-based architect David Hotson would design the $25 million
Cafesjian Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan, Armenia. Hotson’s
selection, however, has since raised accusations of impropriety on the
part of the foundation – namely that Hotson, who organized and
coordinated the competition, was never listed as a finalist for the
project, and that one of the finalists, Coop Himmelblau, was actually
named the winner of the competition before Hotson was awarded the
project.
“We won this competition,” said Wolf Prix, principal of Coop
Himmelblau, the Vienna-based firm that was recently selected to build
the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. “We got
the so-called first prize.” The other two finalists, selected from 35
entrants, were Rotterdam-based MVRDV and Bernard Tschumi Architects of
New York.
John Waters, executive director of the Cafesjian Museum Foundation in
Minneapolis, defended the process, saying that despite Coop
Himmelblau’s selection, the foundation, which picked the finalists and
winner, was nonetheless unhappy with the firm’s proposal and decided
to start over. In the process, he said, Hotson presented several of
his own ideas. “Mr. Cafesjian made the decision to allow David to
pursue his ideas,” said Waters, “and ultimately he was awarded the
job.”
According to Waters, Hotson first came to Cafesjian’s attention after
the philanthropist read about his 2002 work on the competition for
Eyebeam Atelier in Chelsea.
The museum’s raison d’etre is to house the art collection of Gerald
Cafesjian, a wealthy Armenian-American who is also a major fundraiser
for the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial in Washington, DC.
In April 2003, the three finalists presented their proposals in a
meeting at the Armenian Benevolent Union in New York. Coop Himmelblau
was later named the winner at a ceremony in Vienna. However, Prix
said, his firm later learned indirectly that Hotson, not Coop
Himmelblau, would build the museum. “We were very, very surprised when
we got this message,” he said. “We wrote a letter to the client that
we found this astonishing.” Prix said he did not receive a reply from
the Cafesjian Museum Foundation.
Waters insisted that Coop Himmelblau had been duly notified, but
suggested that Prix did not see the correspondence because it had gone
through a subordinate. . “We had already started working with a
subteam at Coop Himmelblau, and whether that went to Wolf Prix or
someone else I don’t know. There was definitely notification and
correspondence,” he said.
Hotson’s selection does not violate the terms of the competition,
which explicitly state that “where it is in the intention of the
Sponsor to engage a finalist to undertake the commission for the new
museum, the Sponsor is under no absolute obligation to build a project
as an outcome of the design competition, or to appoint any competition
entrant as a result of this competition.” Hotson, who declined to
comment for this article, is also currently working on Cafesjian’s
apartment at 2 Columbus Circle.
Questions are also being raised regarding the competition for the
Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial, which will be developed and
managed by the Armenian National Institute. Cafesjian has promised up
to $100 million for the museum and sits on its board of directors.
The museum, to be housed in the former National Bank of Washington
building, released a request for qualifications in October 2002,
according to The Armenian Reporter. Waters said that the board expects
to meet in February and will make a decision on how to proceed,
whether through an open competition or a direct selection of one the
entrants.
At the same time, however, Cafesjian is providing financial backing to
one of the entrants, New York-based architect Edgar Papazian. “I’ve
been retained by Cafesjian to provide a kind of vision and a
preschematic design of the museum proposal,” said Papazian.
Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National Institute, which is
overseeing the museum plans, explained that Papazian deserved the
support because he is young, solo architect. “Since he’s on his own,
it seemed he was at a disadvantage.” Adalian said he was unaware
whether any other architects have received similar support.
Given Cafesjian’s generous interest in the project, his support of
Papazian may call into question a future competition for the site,
should the board decide to pursue one.
“I would certainly understand someone saying that [the process was
rigged], but at the same time three’s no law that anyone’s breaking,”
said Waters.
CLAY RISEN
ARCHITECTS NEWSPAPER
O2-16-2005
NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN