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In recent years Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, has shown an accelerated level of development relative to other middle Asian countries, while steadily increasing the quality of its urban environment with new projects. The mayor’s residence, which is located 4kms inland from the Baku port, is an important reference point for the city.

At the outset of the project, there were existing conditions such as the existing city plans, and regulations regarding floor heights, that influenced the project. These rules established that all building heights for new proposed developments descend as they approach the mayor’s residence. The top points of the allowable height limit were generated using digital modeling, and the resultant surface formed an upper urban limit by joining the points with parabolic curves. The local site circulation was then integrated with this new layer, at which point the standard grid system was mutated into an axial system.

The upper urban layer mutates similar to that of live tissue and skin- it is torn, thickened, made transparent to form terraces, horizontal gardens, and technical spaces to address climatic issues. Wind tunnels are also formed to serve as turbines and water collectors. While transforming these spaces to address local conditions, the continuity of the upper layers is maintained.