(Tbilsi, Georgia) “Almost 90% of the houses built recently in Georgia are 2 story classical constructions with a cellar and mansard,” said Zurab Dvalishvili, Architect-Designer of Building Company Felix. “In comparison to a triangle roof, which is common in our country, modern architecture dictates the trend towards flat cover and large vitrage.”
“Very rarely, rich people in Tbilisi ask for contemporary constructions. Normally, we get orders for typical classical buildings with gravures, carvings, a small size vitrage and balconies for each room separately. At the beginning of the projecting, customers often plan a large vitrage, which is expensive enough. After estimation of the expenses customers then make the decision to save money. Sometimes the decision comes to have a large terrace on the first floor,” said Dvalishvili.
As he remarked, Georgian architecture is still either under the influence of Soviet times – grey, dull constructions or there appear customers who want a pompous entrance with historical, classical Roman columns. Right now, Dvalishvili is working on a project exactly with Roman, pompous details.
“I’m strictly against archaic arches and I never do this inside the building, even if the customer insists on it. What bothers me about the rest of the Soviet Union is that people mostly put an accent on quantity of rooms. I always advise them to plan to have fewer, but bigger rooms, which are more comfortable and look nicer after furnishing. Nowadays, young couples like a minimalist style with less furniture. We can see some hopeful movements towards modernization. But it’s impossible to adjust to an absolutely contemporary inner design, with a very classical exterior façade. In cases like this, we choose a classic-modern style with contemporary arches or metal divisors,” said Dvalishvili.
“We are a poor country and it’s reflected in the appearance of the houses. A poor economic system causes impediments for the development of architectural taste. People don’t have much money and try to save as much as possible at the expense of the outlook of their dwelling. Even for those who have good income it’s enough to feel comfortable inside. They don’t consider it necessary to waste extra money on external beauty. Subsequently, houses built by private owners often lack taste and aesthetic beauty,” said Kakha Machaidze, architect of Iberia, one of the building companies in Georgia.
Apart from financial problems, customers often demand one year’s work to be done within a month.
“House projecting needs a minimum 4 to 6 months. When customers don’t know what they want exactly, a long time is spent to assure them of what’s relevant in their specific case. Very often the outside appearance subconsciously bothers them, but still they resist paying for the exterior facade,” said Machaidze.
Ilia Giorgadze, Head of the Negotiating Department of building company ARCI doesn’t agree that architectural taste isn’t developing at all in Georgia nowadays. As he said, their experience showed that good projects are better sold than ever.
“Today everything is being built and everybody is building according to their taste. We can’t agree that only tasteless buildings are being constructed. There are some good and bad buildings. Of course, state buildings look better, because of the bigger investment in them. As a rule, every architect can present a project in City Hall, where the Architectural Department discusses and decides which ones get approved,” said Giorgadze.
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