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ARCHITECTURE
Sports Venues – Projects
Photo: Courtesy of Tekfen Construction
Baku National Stadium
The new 68,000-seat Baku National Stadium
has been designed to meet the highest
international standards for stadiums set by
the Union of European Football Associations & IAAF.
Located just off of Lake Boyukshor in Baku, Azerbaijan,
the 225,000-square-metre stadium, which was
completed in February 2015, is scheduled to host the
first ever European Games in June 2015. The Games
will be held between 12 and 28 June 2015.
Korea-based worldwide architectural and
construction management service provider, Heerim
Architects and Planners (CEO Young kyoon Jeong)
stated that Baku National Stadium is a multifunctional
venue designed to host athletics, football
and a wide range of non-sporting events and is
facilitating a gross capacity of 68,000 spectators as
well as 1,800 seat warm-up building.
Photo: Courtesy of Heerim Architects & Planners
Unique design features and inspiration
The façade design of the Baku National Stadium can be described in two words ‘fire’ and ‘wind’. Heerim explained that the fire,
symbol of Baku was adopted in contemporary design language. Heerim designed interpreting the Maiden Tower - cylindrical
shape of Azerbaijan monument, the 12th century UNESCO World Heritage-listed, the historical treasure as metaphor into modern
language. Heerim designed the exterior skin ETFE which is available for lighting performance. Two-layer ETFE pillow reinforced
with steel cable also enables to withstand strong winds in Baku. The Stadium is usually close to the elliptical geometry due to
containing 400 metres running track. The design in the form of a perfect circle (pure geometry) makes it unique and also boasts
of an elegantly designed curvaceous concourse spaces.
50 Southeast Asia Building MAY-JUNE 2015