Baku Deathstar Cheap Imitation of Real Thing
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 1.08
At first I thought Rem Koolhaas should sue, he already is building a deathstar in Dubai Ras Al Khaimah, but then George Lucas would have to sue, and even Panasonic might even jump into the battle. Can our few brave pilots in their X-wings handle two Deathstars on one planet?
But fortunately we are safe from such a fate, the Azerbaijani version doesn't have room for monster death rays, it has been squooshed down to hotel dimensions and is but a facade, a set in a cheap western, and no threat at all to our plucky rebels.
It is supposed to look like a full moon, but in the immortal words of Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, "That's no moon!"
It is in fact Full Moon Bay by Korean firm Heerim Architects & Planners- "The Korean firm plans to build the Full Moon Bay and the Caspian Plus on opposite sides of the bay to act as markers of the gateway to Baku. The highlight of the project will be the celestial Hotel Full Moon which will be constructed essentially as a disc with rounded edges and a hole in one of the top corners that would appear drastically different from different viewing angles. The bulky centre will give the front a distinct appearance with the glass diagrid contrasting with the hexagonal honeycombs in the back of the structure. The main building of the hotel will house the 35 storey luxury hotel with 104,182 square meters of space occupying 382 rooms."
No word about whether it is being designed with sustainability in mind. ::Skyscraper News via ::Gizmodo
what does that have to do with anything green. The thing looks like the deathstar, so what? Does it have solar panels, graywater recycling, wind turbines?
power savings through removal of the monster death ray
obi wan said that, not Luke.
Hey, I like it! At least its original! (More or less) Really though, is there anything particularly efficient about it: energy producing? Water saving? Something?
Azerbaijan has tremendous environmental, refugee, corruption, and economic problems and they feel that this is important? This country has its priorities out of place.
The "Disneyland" of architecture springing up in oil-rich countries is only producing cities of self-referential iconic buildings that mean nothing to anyone. It will be sad to watch these buildings wither back into the sand once the oil money is gone, leaving nothing but soul-less skeletons of money poorly spent.
C'mon Lloyd...how on Earth did you wind up writing about this? I mean, you rock, but I just started writing up the story for EcoGeek, assuming there was a green angle...but there just isn't. Everything about this project points to useless excess and the kind of pride in big ugly stuff that is 100% problem 0% solution.
Don't get me wrong...I think there should be death-star buildings...but they should at least be LEED certified
Azerbaijan is oil natural gas and carbonhydrogen rich Azerbaijan can do everything with its money