HEYDER CENTRE, Architects Background In 2013, the Center opened to the public in , the capital of Azerbaijan. The cultural center, designed by Zaha Hadid, has become the primary building for the nation's cultural programs, aspiring instead to express the sensibilities of Azeri culture and the optimism of a nation that looks to the future.

This report presents a case study of the project. It will include the background information, a synopsis of the architect's mastery of structural design. Also, some special elements of this building will be discussed in detail. And the structural design of the whole complex will be reviewed through diagrams and the simplified computer-based structural analysis. The Since 1991, 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 from October 1993 to October 2003. The project is located in the center of the city. And 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.

DESIGN CONCEPT The design of the Heydar Aliyev Center establishes a continuous, fluid relationship between its surrounding plaza and the building’s interior. The plaza, as the ground surface; accessible to all as part of Baku’s urban fabric, rises to envelop an equally public interior space and define a sequence of event spaces dedicated to the collective celebration of contemporary and traditional Azeri culture. Elaborate formations such as undulations, bifurcations, folds, and inflections modify this plaza surface into an architectural landscape that performs a multitude of functions: welcoming, embracing, and directing visitors through different levels of the interior. With this gesture, the building blurs the conventional differentiation between architectural object and urban landscape, building envelope and urban plaza, figure and ground, interior and exterior. SITE PLAN

West Entrance

Café Entrance Main entrance VIP Entrance LEVEL ONE LEVEL TWO LEVEL THREE Welcome zone

Auditorium Bar

Cafe Multipurpose hall Library Meeting room Book store/Gift shop Auditorium Temporary Art Gallery LEVEL FOUR LEVEL FIVE LEVEL SIX

Administration LEVEL SEVEN LEVEL EIGHT LEVEL NINE Structural Features Baku, which in old Farsi means ‘where wind beats’, is subject to high wind loads throughout the year, and as the city lies within a seismic zone, the project’s structural engineers faced a multitude of challenges. The freeform structure of the project derives from the architectural design concept of modifying a single surface to adopt different functional requirements. The aim was to create a large column-free space giving visitors the opportunity of experiencing the fluidity of the interior. To achieve this, vertical elements are absorbed by the envelope and curtain wall system. The Heydar Aliyev Centre consists of 2 structural systems: Space Frame and concrete with a single movement joint (Figure 1 and 3 Figure 1. Structural System - Space Frame on the following page).

Figure 3. Structural System - Overall View Figure 2. Structural System - Concrete Cores

Building Components and System Space Frame Concrete The space frame enables the construction of this free form Reinforced concrete is mainly used to construct shear walls as structure while offering significant savings in time throughout the the partition to separate main spaces and to support the space construction process. The surface geometry driven by the frame. It also used to construct the footing of the building. As architecture, dictates the need to pursue unconventional Earthquakes are one of the biggest threats to construction in structural solutions; the introduction of curved ‘boot columns’ to Baku, the building must be reinforced by massive 150-foot-long achieve the inverse peel of the surface from the ground at the concrete piles buried below the Earth's surface to withstand an west, and the cantilever beams ‘dovetails’ tapering towards the earthquake measuring up to magnitude 7.0. free end, supporting building envelope at the east. The substructure enables the incorporation of a flexible relationship between the rigid structural grid of the space frame and the free- formed exterior cladding seams which derive from complex geometry rationalization, architectural aesthetics and usage. Special nodes Due to the large span of the space frame, it is connected to the reinforced concrete structure in addition to the support of the columns and directly to the foundation, in order to maintain the stability of the structure as much as possible. The method of maintaining stability is to extend the steel core beam from the reinforced concrete core tube, fix the vertical steel member to the joist, and connect the space frame to the joist.

As shown in the figure, the space frame will be subjected to a large bending moment. In order to solve this problem and ensure structural stability, the structural engineer will thicken the space grid here, from the other parts of the single layer into multi-layer, to provide adequate bending resistance. Interesting spaces in the structure

The continuous architecture contains three major programs, including the , exhibition halls and convention center, mainly composed by rigid concrete structure grid free from external space frame with a single movement joint. The three spaces are separated from each other and have their own entry and security areas. Also they share some common places under the continuous external skin. In order to make column free space, the certain wall and envelope serve as vertical elements. The convention center could be used for both convention and music performance with 1200 auditorium seats. This section of 4 levels embraces 2 multifunctional conference halls, meeting rooms and the media center. The auditorium is 18 meters height and spans approximately 28 meters supported by concrete shear wall around the space. To reach a large span, the ceiling is constructed by two-way system and adopt steel space frame. As for the interial surface of ceiling, it is created by gypsum board supported by cables to meet acoustical and lighting requirements. The first floor and second floor have a continuous large space and transfer the self-weight to narrow reinforced concrete beams and columns at the base. Then the loads are transferred to the foundation. Different sizes of cross bracing according to the height of seats are used to resist lateral force and stiffen structure. All information is shown in the figure 4. The multifunction hall is near the convention center which is divided into three smaller ones toward north in the garden. The hall spans about 27 meters with a height of 10.5 meters. The ceiling of hall is constructed by steel open web trusses which have height of 2.2 meters, which is effective and could be used to resist deflections in a given size. There are three meeting rooms with a concrete rigid system above the hall, which transfer gravity loads to the concrete floor slab that is approximately 0.8 meter and trusses by columns and shear wall. Then the hall transfers loads to slab, beams and columns at the basement which has a grid and patterns system through shear walls in the east, west and south.

The museum occupies 9 floors with exhibition halls, administrative office, restaurant and a cafeteria. It consists of a permanent gallery and a temporary exhibition gallery. In the temporary gallery, a double-height space lobby is in the entrance with curve ceiling in the above. It has a very thin slab of 8-13mm thickness which covers the ceiling so they would have a very light self-weight transferring to the foundation. The ceiling is made by steel trusses of nearly 1.5 meters height that support its self-weight as well, serving as a cantilever of 25 meters and transferring loads to the element B –the tilt shear wall with a wide of 1.4 meter. Then the loads are carried by 3.1 meters thick mat foundation and 1.1 meter thick piles underground. The element C is a cantilever floor that spans approximately 20.4 meters supported by the tilt shear wall. In order to reach the large span, the structure could be two-way concrete waffle slab with a height of nearly 2.2 meters. As for the basement, it is a grids patterns constructed by the concrete flat slab and columns. In the permanent collection gallery, the space is divided by element B, the tilt shear wall. Element D spans nearly 9.8 meters while element E spans 8.2 meters measuring 1.2 meter depth. This beam in turn supports both dead loads and live loads from roof and the floor of exhibition and then transfer forces to the mat foundation.

The library is 8 stories seated in the north of site with a continuous exterial building skin in the façade. The AHU room is a large space that sits on a 1.2 meter mat foundation spanning 21.6 meters with a height of 9 meters. The 120-mm-thick reinforced concrete slab is supported by shear wall in four directions. The beam in turn supports the reinforced concrete slab every 3.5 meters by 0.8 meter depth. For the AHU room embeds in the finer grid, heavy girders are needed to carry more loads transferred from top elements like concrete columns, beams, slabs and trusses of the ceiling. Wind load

Calculating wind load using the Generic formula: F=A*P*Cd F is the wind load, A is the area exposed to wind direction, P is the pressure, Cd is a factor The surface area of inner skin is 22,000 square meters, we estimate one sixths is exposed to the wind’s direction, so A equals to 3666.7 square meters. P equals to 0.00256 multiplies the quadratic of V, which stands for local wind speed, and the number is 14mph. So we get P is 2.44 kilogram per square meters. For a flat area, Cd is 1.4. So we can calculate F is 3.72KN y

x

Moment Diagram under wind load

11.046 3.092 17.28911.0463.0924.738 25.82217.28919.869 4.73811.147 29.5729.5725.82219.869 11.147 13.171 13.171 6.193 1.194 6.193 1.194 0.645 4.084 0.645 6.416 43.73159.2435.903 4.084 6.416 35.903 42.46 61.20728.977 82.8946.27142.46 15.509 32.23 20.304 36.619 20.304 51.38859.53188.39325.8 51.388 49.826 59.53162.59349.826112.574 112.574 180.265180.265 242.441242.441 188.016 295.613295.613 325.816 342.527342.527384.986 378.029378.029188.016 325.8164.137384.986 4.137828.509 997.017

372.23372.23

29.646 586.914 586.914

828.509 83.707 92.511

59.931 61.531 y

x

Shear diagram under wind load

2.786 2.2722.686 1.936 2.8512.8811.321 0.265

0.89 0.085 0.916 0.501 1.477 1.407 6.421 6.749 3.737 19.63418.318 1.278 3.959 18.57217.526 2.912 2.334 15.614 0.955 14.174 9.804 2.037 2.022

62.34 28.107 6.245 7.262 3.78 3.934

62.209

59.954

62.663 47.633 72.771 y

x

Member axial reactions under wind load

5.823T 1.85T 9.577T 2.275C 13.146T 2.689C 16.801T 2.0642.022C C3.263C 20.501T 24.185T 27.848T 31.623T 31.24T 43.789T 29.024T 32.487T 36.295T 40.035T 42.30845.738T 49.688T 53.842T 57.761T T 38.161T 58.661T62.891T

60.159T

31.558T28.01T 2.881C 31.628T

0.584C 73.623T 18.173C 4.841C 3.554T 39.012C

48.271C

42.16350.581C C Gravity

• For gravity, The construction has been used 121,000 cube meters of reinforced concrete, 194,000tn formwork and 19,000tn mold steel. The density of reinforced concrete is 2400 kilogram per cube meters, so we can use 2400 to multiply 121,000 to get the weight of reinforced concrete, and the number is 290,400, 000 kilogram. • Since 1tn=907.2kg, and we already know it uses 194,000tn formwork and 19,000tn mold steel, we can convert it to kilogram. The weight of formwork is 175,996,800kg, while the weight of mold steel is 17,236,800kg. • Adding these three number together, we can get the total weight is 483,633,600kg, or 4739609.28KN • The total floor area is 101,801 square meters, so we use 4739609.28 divided by 101,801 to get 46.56 kN per square meters. y

x

Moment diagram under gravity

3527.81 3253.639 266.723 2808.454 266.723 173.837 1790.12 173.837 770.663770.6631153.9631153.963 1664.9641664.964 2101.322101.32 209.209 1112.871972.505 2391.332391.33 209.209 274.171 247.626 671.695671.695 2581.627 354.918354.918 2581.627 102.561 70.831 176.795 69.317 366.583366.583 2678.9922678.992 978.294978.294 513.678 69.317 116.289 411.116 116.289 140.366 1066.345 2429.826 1796.623 9.674 495.389495.389 1066.345 2429.826 1796.623 9.674243.621 49.133 1432.468 243.621305.11203.52649.133 305.11203.526 1432.468 1586.669

1800.367 2778.1041800.367 746.774 746.774 1586.669 960.823960.823

120.938

2778.104 1524.876 179.588 174.502

202.193 117.982 y

x

Shear diagram under gravity

335.193 288.862 185.928147.37 196.272 103.185 57.485 365.196 318.918 12.768

31.771 157.311 46.998 109.841 78.508 2.963 64.188 127.155 43.366 17.332 44.137 173.157 90.807 29.831 211.733 222.345 272.016 13.24 137.612 76.333 268.944 307.53 123.23269.76

294.505 173.915167.177 13.359 12.64 15.112 7.069

354.257 y

x

Member axial reactions under gravity

3.693C 26.6937.704CC 62.617C 18.12913.24C C 10.127C 142.698C 23.221C 31.683C 25.843C 12.076T 30.875C 8.672T 28.483T 22.713T 37.795C 24.5C 20.415T 17.167T 49.358T 19.299T 10.724T 47.83741.706T T 37.42631.442T T 23.766T 7.355T

381.982C 21.822C

250.866125.292C C

139.88C 343.777C 221.723C 315.82T 682.125C 224.78C

254.571C

334.434C 341.49C Summary

The design of the Heydar Aliyev Center establishes a continuous, fluid relationship between its surrounding plaza and the building’s interior. This was achieved by using an ingenious and elegant structure system, which has two collaborating systems: a concrete structure combined with a space frame system. Because vertical structural elements are absorbed by the envelope and curtain wall system, the large-scale column-free spaces can allow the visitor to experience the fluidity of the interior. Another important issue is the building’s skin. To make the surface so continuous that it appears homogenous, a broad range of different functions, construction logics and technical systems were brought together and integrated into the building’s envelope. It makes the building appear homogenous since different parts were covered and connected. From this case, by analyzing the structural system and its relation with the exterior skin, we have seen how the structure design can better help the design concept come true.