Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center — Baku, Azerbaijan

The Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center ( Heydər Əliyev Mərkəzi) — is a cultural complex constructed in Baku, Azerbaijan. The complex is designed by renowned Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The Cultural Center will house a conference hall with 3 auditoriums, a library and a museum. Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center occupies the area of 57,519 sq m rising to a height of 22m. The proposal for the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center envisions a fluid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s natural topography and by the wrapping of individual functions of the Center. All functions of the Center, together with entrances, are represented by folds in a single continuous surface. This fluid form gives an opportunity to connect the various cultural spaces whilst, at the same time, providing each element of the Center with its own identity and privacy. As it folds inside, the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center. The immateriality of a building that varies between white, whiter, and whitest—depending on how the sun strikes its radial surfaces—seems weightless, releasing visitors from gravitational obligations. As an object, the building is subjective, provoking strong feelings cued by the physics of suspending gravity. The main building of the Cultural Center consists of three parts: Museum of Heydar Aliyev, exhibition centers and «Auditorium» Exhibitions centres: «Masterpieces of Azerbaijan», «Mini-Azerbaijan»,»Welcome to Azerbaijan» , «Azerbaijani Cuisine»