What is that curvy, modern, and clean building in Baku? This is the Heydar Aliyev Center, and is a very stunning architecture. It is designed to be a cultural center and is filled with programs inside, such as the museum, the convention center, and its exhibition halls. The Heydar Aliyev Center architecture has a distinguishing style, and the history of this center only strengthens its ties with the people of Azerbaijan. From the history, architecture, its general facts, and the inside tour of it, there is much to learn and see about the Heydar Aliyev Center.

The Heydar Aliyev Center is a smooth and modern style of architecture. As mentioned before, it is seen in the capital of Azerbaijan, known as Baku. With 9 stories inside, it has each floor packed with activities. It is 57,500 square meters (or 619,000 square feet) and 74 meters in roof height (242 feet and about 9 inches). The project was worked on from 2007 to 2012 and opened in 2013 -based on WikiArquitectura and this PowerPoint's information.  Now with the general information, you will at least see the side of the Heydar Aliyev Center where the size and open date shows.

So why was the building built, you wonder? Surely this project has a standing purpose, right? In fact, the Heydar Aliyev center does. According to WikiArquitectura, it informs, "As part of the Former Soviet Union, the urbanisation and architecture of ... capital, were strongly influenced by the planning of the time. Since gaining independence in 1991, has made significant innovations in the modernisation and development of infrastructure, and the architecture of , departing from the rules of Soviet Modernism."

Thus, the Center shows its roots with the fact that it had tried to break away from the [Azerbaijan] country's Soviet rule. This Powerpoint presentation created by Tamu Football agrees with the claim, saying, "Azerbaijan has been working on modernizing and developing Baku's infrastructure and architecture in order to depart from its legacy of normative Soviet Modernism. The center is named for Heydar Aliyev, the leader of Soviet-era Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982, and President of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to October 2003... it played an extremely important role in the development of the city. It breaks from the rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture that is so prevalent in Baku. More importantly, it is a symbol of democratic philosophy thought. Under the influence of the new Azerbaijan party and the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan leader's political and economic reform, the center was also designed to show the potential of the country's future cultural development, to encourage people to study the history, language, culture, national creed and spiritual values of their own country."

They agree with the origins and thought of the Heydar Aliyev Center. The WikiArquitectura briefly explains architects such as Zara Hadid and Patrick Schumacher were also behind the creation of the project. These details show the roots of the Heydar Aliyev Center, and when you visit the place, the history will be kept in mind.

The outside of the Heydar Aliyev Center is a stunning and eye-catching sight, many would say, but what does it look like on the inside? As mentioned before, there are 9 floors, each holding different activities to do inside. The Tamu Football gives an insight of the cultural center virtually, showing what is inside.

On the first floor, it holds a welcome zone, an auditorium bar (and an auditorium), the multipurpose hall, a cafe, and a gift shop. The second floor has a library and a temporary art gallery, while the third floor sits a meeting room. Look on the fourth floor, and the administration room and library sits.

A unique fact about the interior of the Heydar Aliyev Center is there can be certain recreational activities that can be found in multiple floors. For example, the auditorium takes up one room, but it stretches tall enough to occupy 3 floors! There are more rooms and activities that follow this style, like the library can be seen from floors 2 to 7.  Either way, every floor has interesting forms of entertainment and education on every story.

In conclusion, there are many aspects to know and do in the Heydar Aliyev Center. Even so, if you were already to tour every inch of the place, there is still the history of the cultural center to dive into and learn. It is a building with many parts to learn inside out and is a very interesting architecture to visit and to learn about.

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Sources:

"Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center." n.d. WikiArquitectura.
https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/heydar-aliyev-cultural-center/

"Heydar Aliyev." n.d. Tamu Education.
http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/anichols/courses/applied-architectural-structures/projects-631/Files/HeydarAliyev.pdf

Bianchini, Riccardo. (2022). "Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku." https://www.inexhibit.com/mymuseum/heydar-aliyev-center-baku-azerbaijan-zaha-hadid/

Ayaz, Shaikh. (2019). "Zaha Hadid: Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku is More a 'Philosophy' than an Architectural Marvel." Architectural Digest.
https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/one-zaha-hadids-iconic-creations-heydar-aliyev-center-baku-philosophy-architecture/

Umarania, Kruti. "Evaluation of Curvilinear Structural System Used by Zaha Hadids Architecture." n.d. Academia Education. https://www.academia.edu/43584466/Evaluation_of_curvilinear_structural_systems_used_by_Zaha_Hadids_architecture