‘The Sun in the Ground’ reimagines Gyumri’s historic food market as a culinary campus — blending local tradition with contemporary design to support the future of Armenian cuisine.

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In response to a competition brief calling for the renewal of the city’s central market and the creation of a culinary school, the proposal merges two programmatic worlds: a vibrant food market at street level, and a teaching kitchen and learning spaces below. Together, they create a continuous ecosystem — from land to table, from past to future. The design draws from the tonir, Armenia’s traditional underground oven, using it as both spatial logic and metaphor. The ground floor functions as a radiant surface — a marketplace of local ingredients and seasonal life — while the spaces beneath serve as the hearth, where knowledge is cultivated and traditions evolve. Direct access between the two supports collaboration between vendors, students, and chefs, creating a living, working, and learning community centered on food. Materially, the project balances weight and lightness — combining pink tuff stone, a vernacular Armenian material, with contemporary glass forms. Public areas, restaurants, and gathering spaces are woven throughout the structure, extending the experience beyond school and market. This is not only a place for trade or education, but a civic gesture that revives Gyumri’s cultural identity through architecture that feeds, teaches, and connects.