the planning and execution of the Heyder aliyev cultural centre

1. Heydar Aliyev
Cultural Center
Azerbaijan

2. INTRODUCTION
• Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects, Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher
• Associate Architect: Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu
• Year of construction: 2007-2012
• Roof Height: 74m
• Length: 10,092m
• Floors: 9
• Built-up Area: 57.519m2
• Location :Baku, Azerbaijan

3. INTRODUCTION
• The Heydar Aliyev Center, with 57,519 m2 built, is a complex of buildings
designed by British Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, noted for its architecture and fluid
curved style that avoids sharp angles.
• The building was nominated for the World Architecture Festival and Inside
Biennial Festival in 2013

4. CONCEPT
• Represents a fluid form that
emerges by the folding of
the natural topography of
the landscape and the
wrapping of individual
functions within
• The shapes of the 57,519
m2 cultural center show the
lightness of a scarf billowing
in freefall

5. SPACES
• Consists of three buildings, a conference center with
auditorium and halls, a museum and a library, connected via an
interior space and the curve and "fluid" outer skin that winds
throughout the structure
• The complex also houses a restaurant and a parking lot

6. Structure
• The Heydar Aliyev Center principally consists of two
collaborating systems: a concrete structure combined with a
space frame system
• The particular surface geometry fosters unconventional
structural solutions, such as the introduction of curved ‘boot
columns’ to achieve the inverse peel of the surface and the
‘dovetail’ tapering of the cantilever beams that support the
building envelope

7. Materials
• The building, whose distorted grid panels have Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete
(GFRC) and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester (GFRP) has no visible connections
• The construction has used 121,000 m3 of reinforced concrete, 194,000tn
formwork and 19,000tn mold steel
• To shape the outer skin 5,500 tons of structural steel were needed, creating the
40,000 m2 basis area for panels made from fiberglass reinforced polyester or with
concrete, a total of almost 17,000 individual panels with different geometries

8. Computer generated image showing
The differently shaped individual panels

9. Exterior access
• Visitors find the building through a long and steep park with a zigzag path, leading
to a public square
• The landscape emerges from the ground to blend with the building
• Has a terraced landscape that provides alternative routes and connections
between the public square and underground parking
• This solution avoids additional excavation and fill and successfully converts an
initial disadvantage of place in a key design feature.

10. Interior
• The inside center is
characterized by continuous
surfaces that twist to transform
the ceiling walls and ramps
• Soils become ramps and walls,
turning on ceiling ceilings, then
keep turning and moving out of
sight, forming endless white
landscapes

12. Library
• The Library is oriented north to take advantage of natural light and has its own
entrance
• Levels dedicated to reading and file are stacked one above the other, wrapped in
the folds of the outer skin
• The Library and Museum are also connected by a ramp that leads through the
ground floor of the Library, to the first floor of the Museum
• The Library is connected to the conference room through a bridge that 'fly' over
the entrance hall
• Its shape reaches the Cultural Plaza, leaning to create the necessary slope leading
to the seats of outdoor space

14. Auditorium
• The auditorium and its associated facilities have direct access to the Plaza.
• The main entrance is on the void created in the outer layer, "stretching" of the
volume of the museum and the library tower.
• The secondary entrance is on the north side of the building

16. Lighting
• During the day the volume reflects light, constantly changing its appearance
depending on the time and perspective
• At night, this character is gradually transformed by means of lighting that washes
from the interior onto the exterior surfaces, unfolding the formal composition to
reveal its content and maintaining the fluidity between interior and exterior

17. Site plan

18. Ground, First and Second
floor plans

19. Third, Fourth and Fifth
floor plans

20. Sixth, Seventh and Eighth
floor plans

21. Sections