Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center (Baku)

 interesting place, cultural center / centre, 2012_construction

Zaha Hadid Project named after Azerbaijan president Heydar Aliyev.


Heydar Aliev Cultural Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid, will give a major new venue and landmark building for Baku. Dedicated to the former president of Azerbaijan, the Cultural Centre will house a conference hall, an auditorium, a library, a museum and food and beverage areas. Total build up construction area is 90,071 m2.

The landscape emerges from the ground to merge with the building. This rippling, manifest as earth mounds, fades as it moves away from the main building to radiate like waves. The building itself is also merges into the landscape to become the Cultural Plaza - further blurring the boundary between the building and the ground. These landscape formations also direct the circulation of visitors through the building and Cultural Plaza, where outdoor activities and performances take place.

The Museum faces out into the landscape - participating in the urban fabric of the city developing around the site. Its glass facade is slightly interrupted with the sculptural interplay between the outer skin and the ground. The interior is an extension of the natural topology of the site with the glass façade flooding the Museum in natural light. The ground surface of the Museum begins to fold and merges to the outer skin which allows the new extension to become part of the topography of the site, whilst ramps connect the ground floor with the mezzanine levels above. *

The Conference Hall accommodates 3 auditoriums of different sizes. Its form leans into the Cultural Plaza to create the necessary inclination for the seating.

All three auditoriums and their associated facilities have a direct access to the Plaza. The main entrance is located in the void created by the outer skin being ‘stretched’ between volume of the Museum and the Library tower. A secondary entrance is situated on the north side of the building.

Construction works are held by Dia Holding. Completion pf the building is scheduled to 2010.