Buildner's Unbuilt Award 2025 competition Medium scale category winner - .ket bureau

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce the Medium scale category winner of our Buildner's Unbuilt Award 2025 – Tigran Danielian from Armenia!

Tigran Danielian

Please tell us about your company (when it was founded, where it is based, how many employees, etc) Alternatively, if you do not have a company, please give us some insights on your own professional/academia background.

Our bureau was founded in 2020 in Moscow by two like-minded people — Karen Bilian and Tigran Danielian. Today we work from Yerevan and Moscow, but we try not to think in terms of borders: we consider ourselves “citizens of the Earth” and participate in projects all over the world. We regularly take part in competitions, travel, and broaden our professional horizons. We are a small and close-knit team of eight people. Everyone's contribution is important for each project: we work as a single organism and share responsibility for the result equally, regardless of the scale of the task.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been Involved?

We do not limit ourselves in practice or in our desire to engage in architecture. We are interested in architecture in all its manifestations and scales. Over the years, we have completed projects of various scales, from small art installations to urban concepts and planning solutions for entire neighborhoods. We find our own challenges and professional interest in each type of design, and changing scales helps us maintain a fresh perspective and develop the team's capabilities.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

We are disappointed that the role of architects in society is often underestimated. Sometimes the profession is reduced to serving the interests of large construction companies or administrative clients, to the detriment of the quality of the environment and the interests of city residents. We are romantic enough to believe in architecture as a responsible cultural practice. It is important for us to seek a balance between art and craft: between the idea and the precision of its implementation, between poetry and functionality.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

Competitions provide an opportunity both to express oneself professionally and to test one’s skills at an international level. Participation in—and victories at—major competitions demonstrate that Armenia, Russia, and other countries outside the so-called “first world” are not on the periphery of the architectural process; we can be avant-garde, relevant, and competitive on the global stage.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Either you attempt and fail many times on the way to victory, or you don't attempt at all and always lose. But after victory, you will also lose.