On August 10, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appointed Vahan Misakyan as the Deputy Head of the Urban Development Committee of Armenia.
Vahan Misakyan received his architecture qualification from the Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction and continued his education at Columbia University (New York, USA), obtaining a master's degree in two specializations.
Following the call of the Prime Minister of Armenia, he applied to be included in the government's personnel bank. Nikol Pashinyan has stated that he appoints specialists educated abroad to high positions.
Here is the biography of Vahan Misakyan:
Vahan Maximovich Misakyan
Born on May 3, 1986, in Armenia.
Education
From 2003 to 2009, he studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction (now the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia), obtaining the qualification of architect.
From 2009 to 2011, he studied in the postgraduate program at the same university.
From 2011 to 2012, he studied at Columbia University (New York, USA) at the Faculty of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, obtaining a master's degree in "Advanced Architectural Design".
From 2012 to 2014, he obtained a second master's degree in "Critical, Comparative, and Conceptual Practice" at the same faculty of Columbia University.
Professional Experience
From 2014 to 2015, he worked as an architect at "Studio MDA" in New York, USA.
From 2014 to 2015, he was a visiting and associate lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University in New York.
From 2018 to 2020, he held the position of endowed professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, serving as a member of the governing board, developing and teaching courses in urban studies, architectural design, and theory.
Upon returning to Armenia, from 2015 to 2018 and then from 2020 to 2026, he initiated independent project-research activities (vahanmisakyan.com), carrying out work in the following areas:
Within the framework of the "Cloud" art studio (ampstudio.am), he implemented architectural and urban planning projects, conducted structural studies of the historical urban fabric of Yerevan, based on which the developed and subsequently expanded project "Kond" was recognized as one of the winners in both phases of the urban revitalization competition (2022 and 2024), He founded the "Ex-commons" platform (x-commons.com), creating an international open collaborative network and conducting research in the realm of common, intangible infrastructure, built and imaginary environments in the format of exhibitions, forums, and publications, He designed and led the research work of the "Surveillant Cities Laboratory" (surveillantcity.org), conducting spatial research on the digital, regulatory, and infrastructural evolution of urban environments, developing workflows for computer vision and machine learning, as well as publishing professional repositories.
Additional Information
He is the author of articles, projects, and research published in international professional journals and books, presented at conferences, and has received several professional awards.
He is a member of the Chamber of Architects of Armenia.
He is fluent in Armenian, Russian, and English.
Political Affiliation
Non-partisan.
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On June 13, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan invited graduates from 200 leading universities worldwide to join the personnel bank of the Armenian government.
On August 4, Nikol Pashinyan announced that they had already received 1141 applications, and after reviewing the applications and preliminary selection, 459 candidates or about 40% passed to the second stage.
The Prime Minister also stated that a decision had been made to appoint a group of applicants to high positions soon, and there would be a de jure implementation of those decisions.
