AA Baku Visiting School

Azerbaijan has had a varied past, sitting at the crossroads between the West and East it has been subject to varies forms of occupation constantly shifting and morphing with ever changing regional powers. This has in recent times been stabilised by the formation of the state of Azerbaijan, with this stability there is a new identity being forged for the Azerbaijan of the future. With many large-scale projects underway all derived from the recently acquired oil and gas wealth there is an ambition to create a new Azerbaijan and to set it apart from others regional countries. As with many other countries in the region this rapid development bares no relation to their passed and forms no links to traditions and crafts of the very old and wonderful culture.  Given the vast amounts of investment currently being plugged into the development of the country we believe this is an appropriate time to re-asses the current mode of thinking to insure the future is built on the foundation of the passed. At the start of this century there has been much said about the disappearance of the vernacular and local architectural tradition, in view of this AA visiting school Baku will look into and develop strategies where Azeri identity is understood and incorporated into plans for the future. We will start this series of workshop by looking at recent iconic projects such as the Heyder Aliev centre, the flame towers and attempting to dissect and re imagine these using more traditional architectural elements derived from historic structures dotted around the city of Baku and the country. Cross disciplinary thinking will be encourage with a variation of medium used from drawing to performances which will enable us to plug into a diverse range of skill sets. The work- shop will be open to students, graduates of architecture and the arts and anyone whom can contribute creatively to the development of the subject. We will localise the global and globalise the local, turning Baku and Yarat into a regional hub for thinking and research in regards to Architecture and the arts. As with other visiting school there will be an exhibition of the works at the end of the course which will be part of the wider educational and cultural programme at Yarat.   Course Director Omid Kamvari Tutor Kasper AX   Students Arzu Məmmədəliyeva, Yalçın Məmmədov, Deniz Ayar, Bogdan Kutsevic, Üzeyir Qasımov, Günel Zeynallı, Afaq Bəşirova, Safura Qarayeva, Aygül Həsənli, Orxan Bağırov, Elnur İslamov, Nigar İbrahimzadə, Elnur Babayev, Leyla Quliyeva, Orxan Ağayev, Rəcəb Əliyev, Subhan Manfzadə, Urfan Məmmədov, Kamran Sultanov, Tallan Khosravizadeh, Amir Keshavarzian, Sahand Latifi   https://youtu.be/EPKg5A--moM https://youtu.be/V4x5pd9KS5c https://youtu.be/S9Wwid3cxrI https://youtu.be/-nZHuubdLgs https://youtu.be/UZXLiuM0JaI