flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Zaha Hadid's flowing Heydar Aliyev Center named Design of the Year for 2014

Zaha Hadid's flowing Heydar Aliyev Center named Design of the Year for 2014

The cultural center is the first architectural project to win the Design Museum's top prize. 


By BD+C Staff | July 1, 2014
Photo credit: Iwan Baan. Photos courtesy of Design Museum.
Photo credit: Iwan Baan. Photos courtesy of Design Museum.
The Design Museum's Design of the Year Award for 2014 has been awarded to Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center. Hadid is not only the first woman to win the top prize, but the center is the first architectural project to win the overall competition. 
 
The building, full of undulating curves and large glass windows to let in lots of natural light, is located in Baku, Azerbaijan. It serves as the primary building for many of the nation's cultural programs. 
 
"We’re absolutely delighted to receive the Design of the Year Award. The surface of the Heydar Aliyev Centre’s external plaza rises and folds to define a sequence of public event spaces within; welcoming, embracing and directing visitors throughout the building," said Hadid. "It’s an architectural landscape where concepts of seamless spatial flow are made real – creating a whole new kind of civic space for the city."
 
The Design of the Year prize was awarded by a panel of experts; over 70 designs were nominated across all categories (Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Product and Transport). All nominated designs will be displayed in an exhibition at the Design Museum until August 25.
 
There was another first among the winners this year: Phonebloks, designed by Dave Hakkens, won the first Social Vote, which allowed the global public to vote on all of the design entries and choose their own winner. Phonebloks is a design project meant to encourage the mobile phone industry to cut electronic waste out of their designs and make a more lasting product.  
 
 
A few of the judges on why they chose the Heydar Aliyev Center:
 
Kim Colin, Industrial Facility said: ‘A great architect needs a great client, technology, the public, the landscape and the right time. The jury felt that for Zaha's office, this is a pinnacle moment in their portfolio, a sign of international maturity. The jury argued heatedly for and against, and then we finally agreed unanimously that the project deserves our utmost respect. This architecture should make us talk for years to come.’
 
Photo Credit: Iwan Baan; photos courtesy Design Museum
 
 
 
Ben Terrett, Government Digital Service said: ‘It's a stunning, iconic building. One thing that struck me was how it really feels like the swooping curves are the structure. Too often with this type of design it's a facade of something interesting put on top of the usual box. This is different.’
 
Photo Credit: Iwan Baan; photos courtesy Design Museum
 
 
 
Nick Perry, Head of London, Bird & Bird said: ‘This is a truly remarkable piece of architecture. Designs of the Year exists to find and celebrate work such as this, and the breadth and depth of work which has been celebrated is testament to the diverse nature of design. Innovation and design are of huge importance to business, and all of the individuals involved have demonstrated exceptional insight and skill. We are thrilled to have been involved in supporting Designs of the Year this year.’
 
Photo Credit: Iwan Baan; photos courtesy Design Museum
 
 
Project Credits:
 
Architect:
Zaha Hadid Architects
 
Design:
Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher
with Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu
 
Project Architect:
Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu
 
Project Team:
Sara Sheikh Akbari, Shiqi Li, Phil Soo Kim, Marc Boles, Yelda Gin, Liat Muller, Deniz Manisali, Lillie Liu, Jose Lemos, Simone Fuchs, Jose Ramon Tramoyeres, Yu Du, Tahmina Parvin, Erhan Patat, Fadi Mansour, Jaime Bartolome, Josef Glas, Michael Grau, Deepti Zachariah, Ceyhun Baskin, Daniel Widrig
 
Special thanks to Charles Walker

Related Stories

| Mar 22, 2011

Mayor Bloomberg unveils plans for New York City’s largest new affordable housing complex since the ’70s

Plans for Hunter’s Point South, the largest new affordable housing complex to be built in New York City since the 1970s, include new residences for 5,000 families, with more than 900 in this first phase. A development team consisting of Phipps Houses, Related Companies, and Monadnock Construction has been selected to build the residential portion of the first phase of the Queens waterfront complex, which includes two mixed-use buildings comprising more than 900 housing units and roughly 20,000 square feet of new retail space.

| Mar 21, 2011

RATIO Architects announces merger with Cherry Huffman Architects

RATIO Architects, Inc. with studios in Indianapolis and Champaign, Ill., recently announced it has merged with prominent Raleigh, N.C., firm Cherry Huffman Architects.

| Mar 18, 2011

Universities will compete to build a campus on New York City land

New York City announced that it had received 18 expressions of interest in establishing a research center from universities and corporations around the world. Struggling to compete with Silicon Valley, Boston, and other high-tech hubs, officials charged with developing the city’s economy have identified several city-owned sites that might serve as a home for the research center for applied science and engineering that they hope to establish.

| Mar 17, 2011

Perkins Eastman launches The Green House prototype design package

Design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to join The Green House project and NCB Capital Impact in announcing the launch of The Green House Prototype Design Package. The Prototype will help providers develop small home senior living communities with greater efficiency and cost savings—all to the standards of care developed by The Green House project.

| Mar 17, 2011

Hospitality industry turns to HTS Texas for ‘do not disturb’ air conditioned comfort

Large resort hotels and hospitality properties throughout the Southwest have been working with local contractors, engineers and HTS Texas for the latest innovations in quiet heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. The company has completed 12+ projects throughout Texas and the Southwestern U.S. over the past 18 to 24 months, and is currently working on six more hotel projects throughout the region.

| Mar 16, 2011

AIA offers assistance to Japan's Architects, U.S. agencies coordinating disaster relief

“Our hearts go out to the people of Japan as a result of this horrific earthquake and tsunami,” said Clark Manus, FAIA, 2011 President of the AIA. “We are in contact with our colleagues at AIA Japan and the Japan Institute of Architects to offer not only our condolences but our profession's technical and professional expertise when the initiative begins focusing on rebuilding."

| Mar 16, 2011

Are you working on a fantastic residence hall project? Want to tell us about it?

The feature story for the May 2011 issue of Building Design+Construction will focus on new trends in university residence hall design and construction, and we’re looking for great projects to report on and experts to interview. Projects can involve new construction or remodeling/reconstruction work, and can be recently completed, currently under construction, or still on the boards.

| Mar 16, 2011

Foster + Partners to design carbon-neutral urban park for West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong

Foster + Partners has been selected by the board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to design a massive 56-acre urban park on a reclaimed harbor-front site in Hong Kong. Designed as a carbon-neutral development, “City Park”  will seamlessly blend into existing streets while creating large expanses of green space and seventeen new cultural venues.

| Mar 15, 2011

What Starbucks taught us about redesigning college campuses

Equating education with a cup of coffee might seem like a stretch, but your choice of college, much like your choice of coffee, says something about the ability of a brand to transform your day. When Perkins + Will was offered the chance to help re-think the learning spaces of Miami Dade College, we started by thinking about how our choice of morning coffee has changed over the years, and how we could apply those lessons to education.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




Resiliency

U.S. is reducing floodplain development in most areas

The perception that the U.S. has not been able to curb development in flood-prone areas is mostly inaccurate, according to new research from climate adaptation experts. A national survey of floodplain development between 2001 and 2019 found that fewer structures were built in floodplains than might be expected if cities were building at random.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021