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
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Nachdem das ASA-Projekt „Describing urban changes in Baku [2008]“ für unsere Vorgänger Oriana Kramer und Sebastian Burger so erfolgreich verlief und die Resultate unter anderem in einigen Ausstellungen und in ihren Abschlussarbeiten einflossen, sollte es ein Nachfolgeprojekt unter gleichen Namen geben – aber unter etwas anderen Aspekten.
Das diesjährige Team besteht aus dem Studenten der Stadtplanung Michael Kraus (ISR, TU Berlin) und dem Fotografen Jens Kramer. Seit Juni 2009 sind wir nun in Baku aktiv.
-- Michael Kraus (l.) und Jens Kramer (r.) auf dem Dach des Landmark, Baku --
Unser Ziel ist es einerseits einen auf Foto und Video basierenden Überblick über die städtebauliche Entwicklungsphasen Bakus zu geben und andererseits die spannungsträchtige Thematik mit Emotionen der Bewohner Bakus zu untermalen. Dabei wollen wir durch Interviews vor allem ihre Gedanken und Empfindungen in dieser von städtebaulichen Wandel und Brüchen geprägten Stadt einfangen.
Die Ergebnisse des Projekts möchten wir in verschiedenen Medien präsentieren. Derzeit denken wir über eine interaktive Onlinepräsentation nach, aber auch multimediale Ausstellungen (Fotografien auf Paper, Film auf Monitor) und eine Publikation in Buchform können wir uns vorstellen.
Einige fotografische Arbeitsproben der vergangenen Projektwochen werden wir hier in den kommenden Tagen präsentieren. Also dran bleiben!
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The next will be my last week in Baku.
Next Monday I take the train to Tehran. Then Istanbul. Budapest and finally Frankfurt
I will have spend 3,5 monts in Baku with a quite dense time and different experiences.
Definitely worth it, that can already be said even without a distant look.
Meine letzte Woche in Baku bricht an - Montag, den 3.11. werde ich mich per Zug nach Teheran aufmachen, um dann wieder über Istanbul und Budapest nach Frankfurt zu fahren. Same precedure as 3,5 Monate vorher - auch ohne Distanz kann ich sagen, dass sich diese dichte Zeit auf jeden Fall gelohnt hat. Ich habe viele verschiedene Erfahrungen hier in Baku gemacht
Die Ausstellung “Das deutsche architektonische Erbe in Baku” hat nur zu einem kleinen Teil etwas mit unserem eigentlichen Aufenthaltsziel zu tun. Mehr später..
Continue reading ‘Austellungseröffnung “Deutsches architektonisches Erbe in Baku” Exhibition opening “German archetectonical heritage in Baku”’
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’
From our long period of silence you can guess that things have been quite busy over here letely. Apart from our own project we now are engaged in the German embassadors’ project, to publish 4 books by next year - the German Cultural Year in Azerbaijan. To one of them - “German Architecture” in Baku we will contribute photographs and texts which require quite some amount of extra work.
Sebastian and I have been tracing an old list by a great Bakunian russian speaking Architecture Professor Mr. Fatulayev (hopefully I spelled it correctly..) in order to find all the listed German buildings, built by German Architects during the first Oilboom Period 19/20th century.
First challange was the update of street names as they seem to change here every couple of years. By the time we got to some of the buildings, we then realised that quite a few of them are not easy to capture.. Sebastian once again had to escape from the police who forced him to delete his pictures of one of the Oilfirm’s Headquarters. Also the Iraqi-Embassy is in one of Mr. Edel’s buildings. We didn’t even dare to try here.
Well and tomorrow at 6 (actually in 3 hours time) we will hit the road to Khanlar, Ex-German Settlement by the name Helenendorf. Invited once again by our Embassador we will join the summerparty and inauguration of the German churches bell.
We will soon tell you more and get you up to date concerning our work on Urban Changes, our Interviews and latest Adventures.
We found out that a area of about 1/4 km² might be demolished in order to build a park. Even though Baku isn´t a totally dry city this project will hopefully improve local amenities. Therefore this would be considered as a ‘constructive deconstruction’ as opposed to the demolition caused by private investors.
A pity for some real beauties as this house here:
Einige Häuserblöcke (ca. 1/4 km²) werden wahrschenlich zu einem Park umgewandelt werden. Es ist zwar nicht so, als gäbe es in Baku kein Grün, aber dennoch ist dieser zu erwartende Abriß anders einzuschätzen als solche, die von privaten Investoren veranlaßt werden. Da der Park dem Gemeinwohl zugute kommt.
Trotzdem schade um einige Schätzchen:
Let the photographs tell stories…lassen wir die Bilder sprechen:
E: Despite my early expectations Baku’s public squares and parks are numerous, populated and green.
A big part of city life is taking place in the atriums of the houses dating back to the first oil boom period (1880—1920) though. These courtyard-typologies are often shared by 5-30 Families and connected to the street by a wide drive-in.
Families meet here when the afternoon sun finally weakens, children play, women wash and hang up their washing, the drive-ins are used for sale of fruits and vegetables, while cats are relaxing next to the bins and men are playing backgammon or domino in front of the house.
These housing typologies are typical for Azerbaijan and its culture and even reoccur in illegal settlements.
For whole article and German text Continue reading ‘Urban Issues’
