Heydar Aliyev cultural centre

The Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre from Zaha Hadid Architects will give the city of Baku, Azerbaijan a major new venue and landmark building for the city. The Cultural Centre will house a conference hall with 3 auditoriums, a library and a museum.

This ambitious project will play an integral role in the intellectual life of the city. Located close to the city centre, the site will play a pivotal role in the redevelopment of Baku. The site neighbouring the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre is designated for residential, offices, a hotel and commercial centre, whilst the land between the Cultural Centre and the city’s main thoroughfare will become the Cultural Plaza – an outdoor piazza for the Cultural Centre as well as a welcoming space for the visitors.

The proposal for the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre envisions a fl uid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s natural topography and by the wrapping of individual functions of the Centre. All functions of the Centre, together with entrances, are represented by folds in a single continuous surface. This fl uid form gives an opportunity to connect the various cultural spaces whilst, at the same time, providing each element of the Centre with its own identity and privacy. As it folds inside, the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the Cultural Centre.