The EU TUMO Convergence Center for Engineering and Applied Science

This center’s architecture will be one of its strategic assets. It will signal the project’s vision through a design concept that reflects attention to a livable environment fostering open collaboration in the innovation ecosystem of the future.

Description
The EU TUMO Convergence Center for Engineering and Applied Science will be a mixed-use campus bringing together academia and industry, linking local students, researchers and technologists to each other and with their global peers, and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Convergence Center program includes a set of mutually reinforcing facilities totaling 25,000 sqm of built up area. The project site is a 15,000 sqm plot perched on top of the Hrazdan river gorge in Yerevan, Armenia. With an initial budget of over 25 million euros, it will create an open platform and a vibrant community combining academic and training facilities, businesses and a conference venue with retail units such as cafes, restaurants, a gym and a daycare center.
The project is an extension of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, an innovative after school learning center attended by close to 15,000 teenagers every week. It is located next to the TUMO building which houses, in addition to the TUMO Center, leading technology companies, both multinationals and startups.

Jury
Hashim Sarkis, Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT, curator of the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale, and director of Hashim Sarkis Studios
Marie Lou Papazian, the founding CEO of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies
Raffi Krikorian, a former VP at Twitter, Engineering Director at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center in charge of self-driving cars, and Chief Technology Officer of the National Democratic Committee
Jean-Marc Lavest, the Rector of the French University in Armenia
Soh Yeong Roh, the founder and director of the Art Center Nabi

Prize
The three shortlisted firms participating in Stage Two of the competition will each receive an honorarium of EUR 20,000. In addition, TUMO will cover travel and lodging expenses for two key members of each shortlisted team for a site visit and for the 2-day workshop.
The winning team will be commissioned to develop the design of the project from concept through schematic design and to supervise the work of TUMO Engineering from design development through construction (conditions and fees to be determined under the contract formalized between the winning team and TUMO).

Entry Fee
None

Timetable
Finalist announcement: July 12, 2019
Workshops period: July 15-31, 2019
Jury deliberation: August 15-31, 2019
Winner announced: September 1-15, 2019

Organizer
The Simonian Educational Foundation, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies

Official Website