EU TUMO Convergence Center , Yerevan / Jerewan/ Armenien

Press release by MVRDV, Rotterdam

February 25th 2026

 

 

 

TUMO offers free education to teenagers and adults to develop technical and creative skills. Since its foundation in 2011, the organisation has trained more than 100,000 young people through a combination of hands-on projects and self-directed learning. Starting in Yerevan, TUMO has expanded to 25 centres across Armenia and internationally, including Paris, Tirana (where it occupies the MVRDV-designed Pyramid of Tirana), Berlin, and Mumbai. The new addition to their main campus will host a mixture of educational activities and spaces for innovative technology and design companies, alongside conference facilities. This will complement TUMO’s existing work, bringing older students together with young professionals to offer both education and research, and to support start-ups, stimulating connections between the students and the industry.

 

The design of the new EU TUMO Convergence Center building offers a bold yet simple response to the site perched above the Hrazdan River gorge. A 120-metre-long monolithic bar rests on top of a sunken base, cantilevering over steep slopes on each end, while large windows on both ends direct views towards the river gorge to the north and Mount Ararat – often believed to be the resting place of Noah’s Ark – to the south. The base podium elevates the building to a more visible height, creating a slope that extends the nearby Tumanyan Park.

 

“With TUMO’s hall on the hill, we created a new innovation platform that brings together education and industry – the main forces driving progress,” says Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV. “The new facility represents the heart of Yerevan’s emerging tech campus, but is positioned on the axis of history, an ‘Ark’ hovering over the gorge. Its cantilevered form mirrors the idea of standing on a precipice of change, reaching out toward the future. I think that's a nice symbolism.”

 

Inside, educational and working spaces are arranged across five storeys and structured around three large atriums. These “public voids” all connect to the ground floor and accommodate diverse programmes aligned with TUMO’s values of creativity, community, and collaboration. In the centre, the “Grotto” forms the main entrance space along the principal axis, with a café and a digital lounge. At the southern end, the “Valley” rises the full height of the building, hosting the event hall in a generous and flexible space, while on the opposite end, the “Canyon” creates vertical connections between floors, supporting co- working environments at different scales. The atriums bring daylight deep into the building, enhanced by a translucent polycarbonate façade that filters light during the day and gives the volume a gentle glow at night.

 

Around the building, MVRDV’s proposal extends the rocky landscape of the nearby Tumanyan Park onto the site and forms a series of outdoor spaces for different uses and informal encounters. To invite movement and exploration across the site, scenic routes connect existing park features with new elements, such as seating and relaxation areas. An access bridge from the west forms the entrance to the building, running through the central Grotto space and extending out as a viewing platform overlooking the river.

 

The project’s approach to sustainability includes a variety of features to reduce both embodied and operational carbon emissions. The floor slabs are designed with a “bubble- deck” approach to reduce the amount of concrete required and the total weight of the building. In addition, the building is designed for long-term adaptability, with floors organised around two central cores that allow flexible layouts for both TUMO and other organisations. This open configuration allows spaces to be reconfigured over time, extending the building’s lifespan. To reduce operational carbon, the building’s atriums are treated as thermal buffers, with separate heating and cooling systems and a higher variance in temperature throughout the year. Anti-stratification fans and low-temperature floor heating help maintain comfortable conditions in the atriums while reducing the energy required to keep working spaces at a constant temperature.

 

The existing TUMO programme ensures that 12- to 18-year-olds in the area receive free education in technology and ecology and thus strengthens the independence of these teenagers within the global labour market. The EU TUMO Convergence Center will further strengthen ties with the local community by catering to adult learners, linking industry to higher education, vastly improving the social and economic resilience of Yerevan's young residents.

 

 

Project Name: EU TUMO Convergence

Location: Yerevan, Armenia

Year: 2019 –

Client: TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, Simonian Educational Foundation

Size and Programme: 13,500 m2, offices, coworking spaces, retail, café, event hall

 

Architect: MVRDV

Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas

Partner: Stefan de Koning

Director: Gideon Maasland

Design Team: Ronald Hoogeveen, Edina Peli, Rico van de Gevel, Katarzyna Nowak, Angel Sanchez Navarro, Valentina Fantini, Prajakta Gawde, Renata Lopes Tavares, Daniele Dalbosco, Jose Manuel Garcia, Floris Dreesmann, Francesca Cambi, Mohan Yuan, Konstantina Lola, Helena Kajszczak, Sun Ah Jeong, Konstantina Kousari, Bartosz Michałowski, Marta Vilaseca Piera, Sara Abi Merched

MVRDV NEXT: Sanne van der Burgh, Boudewijn Thomas, Jaka Korla, Zhijia Xiong

MVRDV Interior: Aser Gimenez Ortega, Turker Naci Saylan, Basak Gunalp, Sofia Mermigka Angeli

Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries

 

Co-architect: TUMO Architectural Department, Yerevan

Project coordination: TUMO Construction Department, Yerevan

Structural engineer: EOC Eckersly O'Callaghan, London

MEP: MET Majdalani Engineering and Trading, Lebanon

Cost calculation: MultiCal, TUMO Construction Department

Building physics and Thermal Analysis: EK Lab, London

Façade Engineering: EK Lab, London

Environmental advisor: Transsolar

BREEAM Assessor: Carbon Conscious Limited, UK

Acoustic Advisor: MMG Acoustical Consultants

Lighting design: Triangle, Yerevan