This is a project that seeks to expand the existing campus of UNEC, one of Azerbaijan’s well-established educational institutions. Since the historical campuses adjacent to the city walls did not meet the needs in the historical part of Baku, known as “Içerişeher”, a decision was made to expand the school. A parcel of land with a limited number of classrooms used in the city, located on a hill overlooking the surrounding area and encased by a park on both sides, was deemed suitable for this purpose. This land, which has a notable perception from Bakikhanov—the city’s major boulevard—can be accessed via Murtuz Mukhtarov Street, a relatively smaller street that cuts this boulevard perpendicularly.
The land consists of shantyhouses, small huts and two-storey stone buildings, which were non-listed with no historical value according to the decision of the Ministry of Culture. Still, considering one of these buildings as an important part of the street-scale and memory of the neighborhood, an effort was made to preserve at least the facades of the building—which had no original details left in its interiors—and to set a boundary for the new building.
In the perception of the building from the street side, the aim was to preserve and adapt to the existing row of tall trees, and to render the perception of the avenue—at a lower elevation of 30 meters—imposing and visible with the help of topography.Keeping the strong winds of Baku in mind, the decision was to gather everything around a clear courtyard and to enable student entrances from a single wing by creating a deep gap on the street side of the courtyard. This also helped in strengthening the optical relationship of the courtyard with the street.
Thin columns emulating the tall tree trunks on the street boundary carry the structure that continues above the entry void, creating a majestic student entrance without disturbing this scale. Separate access was provided from the courtyard to different function blocks such as student affairs, classrooms, dining hall and library/media center. In this way, social spaces such as food and beverage, or study and reading areas are located at the same level as the garden, within the park and overlooking the view. Official offices such as student affairs and registrar’s offices also have access to the courtyard, and the courtyard is conceived as an open hall/iwan with access to all main functions.
The original entrance and door of the conserved historical façade, facing the plot next door and not the street, was utilized as the entrance for academic staff and protocol. A glass vestibule was built behind the historic door, providing access to the entrance hall. This hall, which also provides a direct connection to the courtyard, was designed in a way to be surrounded by the library and media center on both sides. Stair connections to the foyers of the conference hall and gymnasium were also provided from this branch. In addition, by creating a small courtyard from the historical wall to be preserved, the library’s transparent façade was retracted, allowing the reading room to receive controlled light instead of direct light.The aim was to grant the block, which includes the administration, academic staff, sports/conference halls behind the historical building, with a light-permeable but opaque white effect so that the astounding effect of the historical building could be emphasized.
The self-sufficient nature of the project, which can be characterized as an annex of the educational structure of a big university, or a secondary campus in the inner-city, established the basis of design decisions. Functions in line with the needs of faculties and departments located here were determined by the client and projected to the design. Classroom blocks, social and recreational areas for students and teachers (canteens, media center, dining hall), offices for public use and visitors (auditorium, gymnasium, library), and offices for academic use are clearly separated from each other, yet the courtyard provides a single point of access to all of them. The wings, each of which functions like a separate block, can work both as a mono-block structure with corridors from the inside, and as separate blocks with connections from the courtyard.
With an area of more than 10 thousand square meters, the campus gives the impression of having been constructed upon a much larger land, thanks to the parks around it. The campus, where approximately 3000 students will be educated, comprises of an educational complex with 30 classrooms of different sizes, 15 labs, 6 amphitheatres, 1 exam room, a gymnasium, a conference hall, a library, a media center, a student and academic dining hall, administrative and academic offices.
The building was constructed with a conventional reinforced concrete system. Considering the acoustic performance in the education areas, ducts leading to the classrooms were vertically designed and the air handling units were installed on the roof. Since the ducts leading to the classrooms are separate and steep/vertical, economic solutions were created with bare concrete ceilings by getting rid of the ducts in the corridors. These solutions defined the main idea of the interior’s character.
Ceilings of the gymnasium and conference hall were woven with steel beams due to the large spans. This building is located in the same mass as the academic staff and administration building behind the conserved historic wall. The façades continue with U-profile glass panels. In the conference hall, “blackout curtains” hidden in the steel beam provide light control when needed in these spaces, which are neutrally lit with continuous daylight.
In order to avoid any signage, or orientation on the building, initials of the school name were added on the U glass profiled block, which can be perceived from the urban front and acts as a lantern when lit from the inside at night. The same idea was applied to the ceiling of the large iwan created at the student entrance, embedded into the concrete. Here, the use of water as a landscape element both addresses the entrance and exit point of the school, and carries the logo on the ceiling to the ground level as a reflective element.
Cavities inside the protected wall, which needed to be reinforced for it to be able to stand on its own, were framed with corten steel, and steel beams were connected to the main building for support. Corten steel used on casings was also applied on the façades within the courtyard. It was ensured that the protected wall was not in any way interfered with a cement-based material. Window openings in the protected wall, and the intermediate space between the wall and the new building created a controlled lighting system. This space, which serves as a mini-garden with lemon and citrus trees, added a distinctive ambience to the reading room of the library.
A highly rhythmic, gridded façade system was proposed for the classroom blocks. For economic reasons, a terracotta cladding with a similar color and texture to Baku’s trademark beige sandstone was used on the façade, perceived from the urban front. A window system with narrow blind sashes was proposed for purposes of cleaning and maintenance. Therefore, the profile cost was reduced as light was received through large, fixed windows that cannot be opened. On the street side, this gridded system was preserved and covered with a more modest material, thus intensifying blindness.
