HEYDER ALIYEV CENTRE, Azerbaijan

Zaha Hadid Architects

BackgroundIn 2013, the Heydar Aliyev Center opened to the public in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The cultural center,designed by Zaha Hadid, has become the primary building for the nation's cultural programs, aspiring insteadto 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 thearchitect'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 simplifiedcomputer-based structural analysis.

The Heydar Aliyev CenterSince 1991, Azerbaijan has been working on modernizing and developing Baku’s infrastructure and architecturein order to depart from its legacy of normative Soviet Modernism. The center is named for Heydar Aliyev, theleader of Soviet-era Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982, and President of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to October2003. The project is located in the center of the city. And it played an extremely important role in thedevelopment of the city. It breaks from the rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture that is soprevalent in Baku. More importantly, it is a symbol of democratic philosophy thought. Under the influence ofthe 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 encouragepeople to study the history, language, culture, national creed and spiritual values of their own country.

The design of the Heydar Aliyev Center establishes a continuous, fluid relationship between its surrounding plaza andthe building’s interior. The plaza, as the ground surface; accessible to all as part of Baku’s urban fabric, rises toenvelop an equally public interior space and define a sequence of event spaces dedicated to the collective celebrationof contemporary and traditional Azeri culture. Elaborate formations such as undulations, bifurcations, folds, andinflections 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 buildingblurs the conventional differentiation between architectural object and urban landscape, building envelope andurban plaza, figure and ground, interior and exterior.

DESIGN CONCEPT

SITE PLAN

Main entrance VIP EntranceCafé Entrance

West Entrance

LEVEL ONE LEVEL TWO LEVEL THREE

Auditorium

Multipurpose hall

Auditorium Bar

Welcome zone

Book store/Gift shop

Cafe

Temporary Art Gallery

Library Meeting room

LEVEL FOUR LEVEL FIVE LEVEL SIX

Administration

LEVEL SEVEN LEVEL EIGHT LEVEL NINE

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

on the following page).

Structural Features

Figure 1. Structural System - Space Frame

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

Space FrameThe space frame enables the construction of this free form

structure while offering significant savings in time throughout the

construction process. The surface geometry driven by the

architecture, dictates the need to pursue unconventional

structural solutions; the introduction of curved ‘boot columns’ to

achieve the inverse peel of the surface from the ground at the

west, and the cantilever beams ‘dovetails’ tapering towards the

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.

Building Components and SystemConcreteReinforced concrete is mainly used to construct shear walls as

the partition to separate main spaces and to support the space

frame. It also used to construct the footing of the building. As

Earthquakes are one of the biggest threats to construction in

Baku, the building must be reinforced by massive 150-foot-long

concrete piles buried below the Earth's surface to withstand an

earthquake measuring up to magnitude 7.0.

Special nodesDue 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.

The continuous architecture contains three majorprograms, including the museum, exhibition halls andconvention center, mainly composed by rigid concretestructure grid free from external space frame with asingle movement joint. The three spaces are separatedfrom each other and have their own entry and securityareas. Also they share some common places under thecontinuous external skin. In order to make column freespace, the certain wall and envelope serve as verticalelements.

Interesting spaces in the structure

The convention center could be used for both convention and music performance with 1200 auditorium seats. Thissection of 4 levels embraces 2 multifunctional conference halls, meeting rooms and the media center. The auditoriumis 18 meters height and spans approximately 28 meters supported by concrete shear wall around the space. To reach alarge span, the ceiling is constructed by two-way system and adopt steel space frame. As for the interial surface ofceiling, it is created by gypsum board supported by cables to meet acoustical and lighting requirements. The first floorand second floor have a continuous large space and transfer the self-weight to narrow reinforced concrete beams andcolumns at the base. Then the loads are transferred to the pile foundation. Different sizes of cross bracing according tothe 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 thegarden. The hall spans about 27 meters with a height of 10.5 meters. The ceiling of hall is constructed by steel openweb 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 theconcrete floor slab that is approximately 0.8 meter and trusses by columns and shear wall. Then the hall transfersloads to slab, beams and columns at the basement which has a grid and patterns system through shear walls in theeast, west and south.

The museum occupies 9 floors with exhibition halls, administrative office, restaurant and a cafeteria. It consists of apermanent gallery and a temporary exhibition gallery. In the temporary gallery, a double-height space lobby is in theentrance with curve ceiling in the above. It has a very thin slab of 8-13mm thickness which covers the ceiling sothey would have a very light self-weight transferring to the foundation. The ceiling is made by steel trusses of nearly1.5 meters height that support its self-weight as well, serving as a cantilever of 25 meters and transferring loads tothe element B –the tilt shear wall with a wide of 1.4 meter. Then the loads are carried by 3.1 meters thick matfoundation and 1.1 meter thick piles underground. The element C is a cantilever floor that spans approximately 20.4meters supported by the tilt shear wall. In order to reach the large span, the structure could be two-way concretewaffle slab with a height of nearly 2.2 meters. As for the basement, it is a grids patterns constructed by the concreteflat slab and columns.

In the permanent collection gallery, the space isdivided by element B, the tilt shear wall. Element Dspans nearly 9.8 meters while element E spans 8.2meters measuring 1.2 meter depth. This beam in turnsupports both dead loads and live loads from roof andthe floor of exhibition and then transfer forces to themat foundation.

The library is 8 stories seated in the north of site witha continuous exterial building skin in the façade. TheAHU room is a large space that sits on a 1.2 meter matfoundation spanning 21.6 meters with a height of 9meters. The 120-mm-thick reinforced concrete slab issupported by shear wall in four directions. The beamin turn supports the reinforced concrete slab every 3.5meters by 0.8 meter depth. For the AHU room embedsin the finer grid, heavy girders are needed to carrymore loads transferred from top elements likeconcrete columns, beams, slabs and trusses of theceiling.

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

Moment Diagram under wind load

0.645 4.0844.084 6.416

1.194 0.645

13.171

6.1936.193

1.194

42.46

20.30420.304

51.388

46.271 42.4635.903

32.23

28.977

36.619

11.147

13.171

29.5725.822

25.82219.869

59.24

59.931

6.416

15.509

43.73135.903

3.0924.738

4.738

11.147

11.0463.092

19.869

17.28917.289

11.046

586.914

372.23

828.509

586.914

372.23

4.137

325.816

188.016

4.137

188.016

83.707

82.89

61.531

61.207

92.511

88.393

828.509997.017

29.646

29.57

384.986

325.816

49.826

112.574112.574

180.265

25.8

49.826

51.38859.531

59.53162.593

342.527378.029378.029

384.986

295.613342.527

180.265242.441242.441

295.613

y

x

Shear diagram under wind load

0.501 1.4770.085

0.89

0.916

3.9592.912

1.2786.749

3.737

0.2652.8512.881

3.78

1.407 6.421

2.7861.9362.686

1.3212.272

62.663

72.771

59.954

62.34

62.209

6.245

3.9347.262

47.633

2.022

28.107

18.31818.57219.634

2.3340.955

9.804

2.037

14.17417.526

15.614

y

x

Member axial reactions under wind load

24.185T 27.848T20.501T

13.146T16.801T

32.487T 36.295T29.024T31.623T 31.24T

9.577T

2.064C2.022C

4.841C

31.558T28.01T

1.85T5.823T

2.275C3.263C2.689C

50.581C42.163C

48.271C

31.628T

39.012C

0.584C

3.554T18.173C

73.623T

2.881C

60.159T

42.308T45.738T38.161T40.035T43.789T

58.661T62.891T57.761T49.688T53.842T

y

x

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.

Moment diagram under gravity

978.294

209.209209.209

1790.12

1796.623

978.2942678.992

2429.8262429.826 1796.623

69.317

116.289116.289

354.91870.831

69.317

2808.454

411.116513.678

247.6262581.627

2678.992

266.723

173.837173.837

770.663

274.171

202.193

1790.12

3527.813253.639

2808.454

2101.322391.332391.33

2581.627

1664.9642101.32

770.6631153.9631153.9631664.964

1800.367746.7742778.1041800.367

746.774

960.823

1432.468

1586.669

960.823 1586.669

179.588

176.795

117.982

102.561

174.502

140.366

2778.1041524.876

120.938

266.723

1066.3451432.468

366.583

9.6749.674

243.621

972.505

366.583354.918

671.695671.6951112.871

49.133495.389495.3891066.345

203.52649.133243.621

305.11305.11

203.526

y

x

Shear diagram under gravity

173.157

222.345

127.155

31.771

78.508 2.963

44.137

46.998

318.918

43.366

12.768

335.193288.862

15.112

268.944

365.196

103.185

57.485

147.37196.272

185.928

307.53

294.505

272.016

69.76

211.733

13.359

7.06912.64

354.257

13.24

173.915

109.841

64.188

157.311

90.807

137.612

123.232

167.177

76.333

17.332

29.831

y

x

Member axial reactions under gravity

37.795C 24.5C

30.875C

23.221C

31.683C

22.713T 20.415T28.483T12.076T 8.672T

10.127C18.129C13.24C

682.125C

25.843C

19.299T

7.704C

3.693C

26.693C

142.698C

62.617C

254.571C

334.434C

224.78C

250.866C

221.723C139.88C

315.82T343.777C

341.49C

381.982C

125.292C

47.837T41.706T49.358T17.167T10.724T

7.355T

21.822C

23.766T37.426T31.442T

y

x

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.