Finally it is out, a whole magazine edition on Baku!
The chief editor of the reknowned German architecture and urban planning magazine Bauwelt, Felix Zwoch, found the city as exciting as we did.
Together we could realize an interesting compilation:
Why Baku?
Six young authors portray Baku,
the wild, beautiful city by the
Caspian Sea that has been elected
this year’s cultural capital
of the Islamic world.
Baku has always entertained a
difficult relationship to Azerbaijan,
a country that has changed
its language and script four
times during the 20th century.
.. got you interested?
English speakers can read the articles here
German speakers can download 2 Articles in German here and here
.
By the way. Sebastian posted new pictures under Images on our recent excursion to the pilgrimage mountain Besh Barmag. Check them out.
Sebastian: Stimmt. Und jetzt gibt’s auch Bildunterschrift.
Der deutsche Botschafter Dr. Stanchina war so nett nochmals mit uns eine kleine Tagestour ins Umland Bakus zu machen, um den Schöller-Kanal (benannt nach dem deutschstämmigen Ingenieur, der ihn angelegt hat) von oben zu besichtigen. Wegen schlechter Sicht (auf ihn) gibt es nun alles andere Schöne oder Interessante zu sehen:
It was actually the German ambassador Dr. Stanchina who was again so kind to take us around. We’ve made half a daytrip in order to see the “Schoeller” Chanel, named by the engineer of German origin, from above. Due to the hazy atmosphere other interesting or beautiful things will be shown…
English/Deutsch weiter unten
The upcoming week is my last one in Azerbaijan and will be very busy.
On the 9th of October we will open our exhibition for the German Embassy on German Architectural Heritage in Baku. It will be shown for 1-2 weeks in Kapellhaus on 28th May street.
Please excuse the lack of entries these days… Prints have to be organised, frames to be washed, hung and adjusted, invitations will have to be sent out, text to be translated…
This exhibition is quite a lot of work but unexpectedly has a lot in common with our topic of ‘urban changes’.
German Architecture in Baku – what exactly is it?
Continue reading ‘German Architecture in Baku today’
Our first public presentation in CRRC Baku…
Describing Urban Changes: Baku in the 21st century
10/07/08
CRRC – Azerbaijan is pleased to invite you to the project presentation on Describing Urban Changes: Baku in the 21st century delivered by Ms. Oriana Kraemer architecture student at Bauhaus University
Date: October 7, 2008
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Location: CRRC-Azerbaijan, Caspian Plaza, 44 J.Jabbarly Street, 7th Floor, Baku
Overview: “Describing urban changes” is a project of two students from Germany who tried to document the transformations of the fast growing capital. Between July and October 2008 the project team was observing the current urban changes that the Caspian Metropolis Baku is going through and its aesthetic, social and environmental impacts. The findings of the project will be exhibited in Baku and Europe, a book on the project will also be published.
Language: The presentation will be conducted in English.
Registration: To attend the presentation, please confirm your participation by writing to the following e-mail address: turana@crrc.az before October 6, 2008.
Sebastian oct 26, 2008: 25 interested people came - CRRC´s room was very full, we had a quite dense hour of speech full of pictures and gave a radio interview afterwards.
.
.
Deutsch - English below
Meine Liebe Maschrutka!
Nun bist Du also weg. Man hat beschlossen, Bakus Verkehrssystem etwas Gutes zu tun und hat dich kurzer Hand von den innerstädtischen Straßen verbannt. Ausrangiert.
Meiner Meinung nach ein Fehler.
Auch wenn du “westlichen Standards” nicht entsprachst, du hattest Charakter, warst kundenorientiert hast es Sebastian und mir ermöglicht in den letzten 2 Monaten unabhängig, flexibel und preiswert unserer Arbeit nachzugehen.
Du warst Museum, Theater und Transportmittel in einem. Mit dir habe ich mich verfahren und die ganze Stadt gesehen. In dir habe ich Azeri gelernt. Ich habe deine Regeln kennen gelernt, deine inoffiziellen Fahrpläne gewusst und mich dadurch gleich ein Stückchen einheimischer gefühlt. Ganz pathetisch könnte man sogar sagen: DU hast aus Baku ein zu Hause gemacht.
Continue reading ‘Ein Nachruf auf den Minibus - Bye bye Marshrutka!’
I attended a very interesting lecture at CRRC (Caucasus Research Recource Centre) Baku on Monday by a young Urban Developer, Dr. Anar Valiyev.
Based on his research in USA and Eastern Europe he explained the differences of urban development in both continents. Then, from the prospective of U.S. and European experiences, he discussed urban development of Baku city and various strategies to make Baku a competitive city.
This was especially interestig because of the creative and open input the few but engaged visitors gave on the topic. It was a surprisingly small group that day in the Caspian Plaza but with all the more will to educate and enhance things.
In the following text I will write about what I extracted from the lecture and what my own ideas on the topic are.
Continue reading ‘“Comparative Urban Development: Lessons for Baku”’
The population of Baku has probably doubled during the last days. People are coming back from the contryside filling and jamming streets and the city centre’s pedestrian zone. A constant hooting sound in your ear. Like a little melody even. Randomly swelling and discharging. It has never been that loud and busy before. Not since I came at least…
I feel intruded. In my familiarity. It seems as if people start staring at me again, as If the others had known me by now… Strangers in my Baku! Better: I feel like a stranger in my ‘own’ place.
Funny to say this as a non Bakuanian. But I truly feel that way.
Hier eine Fotoserie, die ich kürzlich auf sueddeutsche.de fand:
Städtischer Wandel in Peking…
Ähnlich unserem Thema, wenn auch im Vergleich recht oberflächlich…
Zu “Augenaufschlag - Beijing 2008“
First bad experience today, which really put me in a bad mood.. We were given a new assistant by our friend Attila and did some great Interview with her help in a very interesting part of the city. It went all very well until we got back to the city centre after having lunch.
I was interested in one of the houses at Malokhan Park, right in the city centre. They had pulled down everything except the front facade and some ground floor walls in quite a prestige-area.
I had always thought this kind of area was safe from being demolished but I must have been wrong. In fact this building dating back to 19/20th century is (apparently) going to be replaced by a highrise building as we heard later on from one of the builders.
We went inside and were soon stopped by an angry Lady who was probably one of the last inhabitants of these ruins. If she didnt hate us so much, she would have probably been a very interesting interview partner. Instead she kept on accusing us that we were the ones making her life hard, that we were coming to her country buying off the places, “Baku should be for Azeris and not for f… Americans…”
Continue reading ‘Angry lady makes me wonder’
By the ministry of culture Sebastian now received a precious A4 sheet which opens many doors and shuts up the troublemakers.
Therefore we easily got a permit by the construction firm Xezer for a shooting from one of their sites.
Lunchbreak on contruction site:
Stepping out of the improvised executive’s office in the carcass after our little talk, two men were just slaughtering a lamb on the fresh concrete slabs, while the head of the sheep was located some metres away already. The guys were smiling mischievously at us when we walked past. Picturesque..
Vom Kultusministerium hat Sebastian nun eine wertvolle DIN A4 Seite bekommen, die so manche Türen öffnet und Verhinderer verstummen lässt.
So gab es auch beim Besuch auf einer Baustelle der Firma Xäzär keine Probleme eine Genehmigung zum Fotografieren von einem ihrer Gebäude einzuholen.
Mittagspause auf Baustelle -
Beim Heraustreten aus dem provisorischen Chefzimmer des Rohbaus, schlachteten gerade zwei Männer ein Schaf. Der Kopf lag schon ein paar Meter weiter auf einer frisch gegossenen Betonplatte. Die Männer grinsten halb verschmitzt halb verunsichert, als sie uns sahen. Pittoresk..
