Chisinau City Gates

The idea of ​​building two multi-level residential buildings and the symbolic concept of the “City Gate” on the road from the airport to Chisinau belonged to Yuri Tumanyan. His wife and colleague Yulia Skvortsova designed it together with the institute’s team. The “City Gate” was built from panel blocks in just 2 years. The first residents moved into this unusual house in 1987. That year, the anniversary of the Great October Revolution was celebrated for the last time – 70 years. The project turned out to be innovative for those times: stepped, completely symmetrical buildings 24 floors (70 meters) high, reminiscent of an open gate. The complex included high-speed elevators and apartments of non-standard layouts with two balconies. New construction technologies, namely adjustable monolithic formwork, made it possible to achieve a stepped building every two floors. A master plan was also developed for two blocks on both sides of the avenue. However, the architects’ plan was not fully realized: Perestroika prevented the construction of the planned infrastructure facilities.