MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION IN TBILISI
Bank of Georgia Building
The magnificent building in the picture below is one of the most beautiful and versatile architectural buildings. Before 2007 it was known as the Ministry of Transportation Building which is located in Tbilisi which is the Capital of Georgia and after 2007 it was occupied by the Bank of Georgia and since then it is known as the Bank of Georgia Building.
Bank of Georgia Building
Who Designed the Building?
The Architects who designed the building are George Chakhawa and Zurab Jalaghania. They proposed this design for the Ministry of Highway Construction of Georgia SSR and the finishing date of the construction was in the year 1975. The Engineer who worked on this project was Temur Tkhilava. For almost three decades this building was under the Ministry of Highway Construction but in 2007 Bank of Georgia acquired this Building so it is now known as the Bank of Georgia Building.
The History
The History of this building is quite interesting as George Chakhava the Architect of this building was Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Highway Construction in the 1970s and therefore it will be not wrong to say that he was both the Client and the leading Architect of this project. He possibly will have chosen the best site location which best suited for the design himself. The cost of the project was 6 million rubles and it was completed in 1975.
In the year 2007, the building was acquired by the Bank of Georgia and in the same year, it was granted an Immovable Monument status under the umbrella of National Monuments Acts. By 2009 a large renovation work of this building planned along with the extension of this project which was planned to achieve more area of 15,600m2 but sadly it didn’t implement.
By July 2010 the building was used as a site for an up-to-date exhibition of art whose title was "Frozen Moments: Architecture Speaks Back". Frozen Moments was the project which was organized by two Georgia foundations and the names of the foundations are Other Space Foundation and The Laura Palmer Foundation. Later on, the building was changed into a week of cross-platform installations, with performances, people talks, and activities that addressed the building and also a group of political, economical, aesthetical, and architectural associations. The financer of this project was the Polish Ministry of Culture, the City of Warsaw, and the Cultural Program of EC.
From the year 2010 to the year, 2011 some additions to the building were made and as a result, a new main entrance and the underground lobby were constructed and its interior work was totally renovated according to the latest trends of that time and now this building has a total area of 12,500 m2 which is quite appreciable.
The Architect of this building was a graduate of a prestigious University whose name is State Polytechnical University in Tbilisi, he studied Architecture over there and he graduated in 1949. Since then he worked as an Architect who had his own studio and has done a number of projects not only in Georgia but also in the countries of Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Latvia. The inspiration of his architectural work was the unique nature of his country with its individuality and the beauty of each region which is in harmony with mountain villages. His design was greatly influenced by Separatism and Lissitzky.
George Chakhava received a number of awards and honors in 1983 and especially he received the State Prize of the USSR Council of Ministers. The Georgian Union of Architects also awarded him with the exceptional Honor in Architectural World as his works were very much recognized. By the year 1991, he became an Honored Member of the International Academy of the Architecture of the Oriental Countries. George Chakhava died on the 25th of August, 2007.
The Design of the building is quite beautiful and unique in its kind. One can see that the Bank of Georgia Building is a combination of rectangular blocks of concrete which are attached with each other with a centralized tower which is very fascinating to see in the first look. This site lies in the outskirts of Tbilisi at Kura River and it has a steep slope as it lies in the Mountains and the landscape runs beneath. The building is visible from a long distance and three major roads from Tbilisi to the North passed this site so it can be said that it is easily approachable. The entrance of the building is at both ends and one can enter it from the higher and lower end.
The Structure
The Structure comprises a monumental grid of interlocking concrete forms. There are five horizontal parts of the building, with two stories each of which seems to be stapled at the top of each other. The other three parts are oriented in the east-west axis, at a right angle to the slope and two are north-south oriented along with the slope. The structure rests on and hangs from three cores and they contain a vertical circulation element like the stairs and the elevators. The highest core of the building has 18 stories and the building has a floor area of 13,500 m2.
The 18 storey building is quite notable for its unusual design which gives people the impression of giant concrete blocks being piled on top of one another in a random way. The harsh concrete facade and geometric form were inspired by the theories of the Russian constructivists, as well as the Brutalism movement and the Japanese Metabolists. Following an architectural concept known as the Space City method, parts of the building are raised above the ground, allowing the landscape to grow around and below it. Also, it can be seen that this building is quite strong in its structure design because the cantilever parts of the building are supported with a structure that bears the Tension load just like cables. Moreover, one part of the building is covered with vegetation and this gives the concept of the Architect that this building is nature friendly and also it looks beautiful when the red color petals cover it.
The parking to the building which is at the lower end is quite large which is enough to fulfill the needs of the Bank of Georgia. This building’s top storey provides a splendid view of the Town along with a river which is flowing near it.
Space City Method
The Architectural design is based on a concept which is named the Space City method which is also known as (Georgian patent certificate #1538). The idea behind it was to use and cover less ground surface and to provide the space below the building for nature. The architect's reference was the concept of a forest which says that the cores are similar to the trunk and the horizontal parts are the crowns and between the earth and the crowns, there is a lot of free space for other living beings to live easily without getting their ecosystem disturbed. Which creates one pleasant-sounding world with the forest. The Space City method is based upon a similar principle. This is meant to create a beautiful experience of well-being and the comfort of nature.
Use of the Concept
The use of the concept of this building by other Architects; The conception of the landscape or nature flows through and under the building which was used by other architects too in the later years. Le Corbusier who worked theoretically upon the house on pilotis realized this idea for example from 1947 in the Unite d'Habitation. One other architect Frank Lloyd Wright used an appreciably comparable idea at Falling water in 1935. Similarly, Glenn Murcutt used the proverb "touch this earth lightly" factually in some of his designs. A present example of this concept is the Musée du Quai Branly by Jean Nouvel which is in Paris, and it is the place where a garden is present beneath a building.
In the 1920s the Planner and the designers of Russia began to use this concept and the famous Russian Architect El Lissitzky designed the skyscrapers in 1924 which is a kind of horizontal and vertical structure that looks very similar to the Building of the Bank of Georgia. Lissitzky also divided building cores and office areas into vertical and horizontal members and elements as an exactly opposite concept to the American concept of skyscrapers.
Relation with Brutalism Architecture
This style can be said to be a "post-constructivist" because this is one of the best examples of this architectural idea in the whole city. On basis of the use of fair-faced concrete and the sharp-edged, finely geometrical volumes, the building can also be well thought out as part of the Brutalism movement. The idea of the space city has a strong connection to Structuralism. Between Brutalism and Structuralism, alike buildings were also constructed in other countries of the world like we have the example of the Yamanashi Communication Centre in Kofu by the Architect Kenzo Tange or we have another example of Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie, both of these buildings finished in 1967.
German writer Udo Kultermann also sees a formal relationship to the user of the building. In his opinion, the structure depicts the internal use by the formal reference to the streets and the bridges. While describing the building the New York Times architecture reviewer Nikolai Ouroussoff believed, "Rising on an incline between two highways, the building’s heavy cantilevered forms reflect the Soviet-era penchant for heroic scale. However, they also related it sensitively to their context by celebrating the natural landscape that flows directly underneath the building. The composition of interlocking forms of the building can be conceived as a series of bridges that bring to mind the work of Japanese Metabolists of the late ’60s and early ’70s, prove that the Soviet architects weren’t working in a thinker space."
The Design Debate is supposed to be stolen from a structure that was planned but not constructed in the Prague district of Kosire by a Czech architect Karel Prager who designed the former Federal Assembly building as well in Prague. There is an edition of some of the structural ideas of this project in the "Tree of Life" building in Lecherias, Venezuela, by a Venezuelan architect Mr. Fruto Vivas.
In a nutshell, we can say that whatever the people have perspective about the design of this building, it is considered as an initiative of the new design with a combination of the design of three movements and its architectural design is unique in its kind and it is well recognized in the world. Moreover at the present time Architects are providing such designs for more attractive, unique, modern, and classy designs for getting themselves recognized as one of the best designers of their countries and their places.