Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan by Zaha Hadid Architects

Article source: Zaha Hadid Architects
More projects by Zaha Hadid

Emerging from the surrounding landscape, this most fluid of structures provides a major new venue, landmark and source of regeneration for the city of Baku – admitting visitors to a library, museum and conference centre through folds in its continuous outer skin, the interior spaces flooded with natural light via a glass façade.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

• Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
• Project: Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre
• Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
• Project Architect: Saffet Kaya
• Building: 52,417m²
• Site: 111,292m²
• Footprint: 15,514m²
• Project Team: Marc Boles, Shiqi Li, Sara Sheikh Akbari, Phil Kim, Yelda Gin, Liat Muller, Deniz Manisali, Lillie Liu, Jose Lemos, Simone Fuchs, Jose Ramon Tramoyeres, Yu Du, Tahmina Parvin, Erhan Patat, Fadi Mansour, Jaime Bartolome, Josef Glas, Ifeanyi Oganwu, Michael Grau, Deepti Zachariah, Ceyhun Baskin, Daniel Widrig, Murat Mutlu

Heydar Aliyev Centre

• Main Contractor: DIA
• Structural: AKT, Tuncel Engineers
• Space Frame: Mero
• Facade: Werner Sobek
• Mechanical: GMD Engineers
• Lighting: MBLD
• Acoustic: DBKes
• Fire: Etik Engineering
• People Movers: BME Ltd. Co.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

A major new venue and landmark structure, the Haydar Aliyev Cultural Centre will play a pivotal role in the redevelopment of Baku: defining a new neighborhood designated for residential, offices, hotel and commercial centre; facing out onto a new outdoor piazza.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

This most fluid of buildings emerges through the folding of the surrounding landscape’s natural topography which extends to ‘wrap’ the different functions housed within – each one represented by the folds in the centre’s continuous surface. This fluidity connects diverse cultural spaces while also providing each with its own identity and privacy.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

The museum faces out into the landscape – participating in the urban fabric of the city developing around the site, its glass façade subtly interrupted by the sculptural interplay between outer skin and ground. Natural light ‘floods’ the interior via a glass façade.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

The library faces north, effectively controlling admitted light, while reading and archive floors are stacked and wrapped within the folds of the outer envelope. The floors fall to each other with ramps connecting them, allowing continuous circulation. Library and museum are further connected by a ramp that leads through the ground floor of the Library to the first floor of the Museum, while a bridge ‘flies’ across the library foyer connecting to the conference centre.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

The conference centre accommodates three auditoriums of different sizes, all with direct access to the external plaza through a main entrance located within the void created by ‘stretching’ the volume’s outer skin.

Surrounding landscape rises to merge with the building, forming radiated earth mounds, while the building itself blends with its surrounds to form the new plaza – a forum for public engagement.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

Heydar Aliyev Centre

Heydar Aliyev Centre

Heydar Aliyev Centre

Heydar Aliyev Centre

Heydar Aliyev Centre

Heydar Aliyev Centre

More projects by Zaha Hadid

Tags: Azerbaijan, Baku

Categories: Cultural Center, Zaha Hadid

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2011 at 2:31 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.