Update On Krtsats Kukuruz

If you recall I posted an entry about the now-destroyed krtsats kukuruz or corn cob building that was a veritable landmark in Yerevan until recently, when it was sold for a ridiculous amount and destroyed to make way for an expensive new hotel.

All that aside, it turns out the American Krtsats Kukuruz was used in at least one movie. This clip is from 1980's "The Hunter" with the legendary Steve McQueen.



Enjoy!

Youth Palace Doppelganger or: The Rise & Fall of "Krtsats Kukuruz"

Our beloved Kukuruz is gone now for the second year, falling victim to the desires of capitalist pigs! The iconic building was "sold" by the "government" for a mere $740,000 to monopolist Avangard Motors Company, the owner of which hopes to build a modern hotel in its place. Blasphemy!

In all seriousness, the Youth Palace was a familiar symbol of Yerevan in postcards and elsewhere, the Armenian version of the famous Hollywood sign. It was unlike any other building in the Yerevan skyline - one that looked like eaten corn - and it will be missed.

Even though fundraising for the building began in the early 1960s, it took more than a decade to be completed. Before its demise in 2005, it served as a hotel with some 500 beds, a concert hall, a restaurant (spinning, if I recall), and other goodies. Here is a picture of it:



What a beautiful and original look, right? It was designed by a group of young Armenian architects some 40 years ago. But what if it was a copy of a building on the other side of the world?





A ha! The two pictures above show Marina City in Chicago, a pair of residential towers designed in 1959 and built in 1964, well before the Youth Palace was ever committed to paper. Further, both buildings appear to be built around a central backbone of reinforced concrete. Oh, and Marina City is known as "Corn Cob Building" to the local residents!

So what should we do? Bow our heads in shame and never speak of it or proclaim that they copied us? Or further, continue to celebrate our beloved Kukuruz regardless? First and foremost, we must keep in mind that there exists a third possibility of two separate architects designing something similar. The use of concrete and designs reminiscent of futurism were all the rage in those years, and that vision towards tomorrow wasn't limited to just Western countries, either. If it was indeed copied, so what? Walt Disney's architects copied Neuschwanstein Castle for Cinderella's Castle in Disneyland.

And isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? When this was conceived and built, in the 1960s and 1970s, every young person in Communist countries wanted freedom and they all looked to the United States as a beacon of a society without limits and one with opportunities and openness. It could very well be the case that those architects were defying Communist ideals and striving for something greater, hoping that a Corn Cob building in their own country would never cease to amaze and inspire a generation of Armenians to come.

And for that reason we can never cease to respect and remember our Kukuruz!

Further reading:
ArmeniaNow
Marina City on WikiPedia

Armenian Government Confiscates Opposition Party Building

Events like this remind me why Armenia still has a long way to go before it is truly constitutional.

Meeting on December 28, the Armenian government ruled that a building erected by the opposition Orinats Yerkir (Law-Based State) party on Yerevan's Teryan Street on land owned by the state was built without official permission, Noyan Tapan reported.

The building in question and the ground on which it stands has therefore been transferred to the State Agrarian Academy. On June 10, the daily "Haykakan zhamanak"
estimated the cost of Orinats Yerkir's new building at $1 million.

So much for those fair elections, Robert. These dirty tactics are the unfortunate remainder of the former Soviet Union. Now that that "State" as a whole is gone, it is time to use them against political opponents.

Source: EurasiaNet