Republic Square Yerevan

A city’s public square is its world stage, its international footprint, and the place where it plays out its most important dramas. It remains a functioning space where business is done, where ideas are exchanged, and important meetings take place.

The Yerevan Project was workshoped at the Watermill Center from July 30th to August 11th, 2013. It is the second time Michel Mossessian and the artist Richard Wilson have collaborated. Starting from conceptual thoughts and general ideas of what a modern re-design of a public square might look like, along with information on the Republic Square in Yerevan and its history, the team then brought together architecture, performing arts, design, and installation aiming to make the ephemeral permanent.

Taking up from the pavement pattern currently on display in the central area of Republic Square in Yerevan (a design that makes allusion to ancient Armenian tapestries), and using the number “3” as a kind of archaic element present in artifacts from many different ancient cultures, a design for three spaces was arranged in the form of diamonds.

Three keywords were sought to relate the design to – for example, “Skin | Meat | Bones”, and in reference to the history of fine arts, “Portrait | Still life | Landscape” were considered.

Eventually keywords were chosen that would represent three pillars of the richness of Armenia, a landlocked country with scarce natural resources to exploit: 

WATER | STONES | PEOPLE