Located in the Amburan region of Baku and sprawled across an area of 58 decares, the former Amburan Beach Club catered to a capacity of 1500 guests. No longer able to meet the needs of the present, however, the beach club became outdated and fell short of meeting the needs of its customers, particularly in terms of service, due to spatial shortcomings. Without modifying it, the existing plan has been ameliorated; moving from the idea of spreading the beach amenities centered solely on the beach and pool areas to the entire property, the existing design was thus reevaluated and renovated.

The project sought to assign new functions to the existing obsolete buildings on the circumference of the property; through small interventions and changes made to their façades, the said buildings have been made invisible within the overall architectural views. As part of this intervention, the central pool has been preserved and the restaurant building around it has been upgraded through the addition of new service units.

In order to lend more visibility to the areas around the beach and the pool, which constitute the main points of attraction upon the long and narrow property, the tanning terraces, bar and cafés, and relaxation/lounging areas have been set parallel along the two long sides of the property. They are slightly elevated in order to create a valley effect across the entire area.

Hence, the various entertainment and recreation areas are spread homogenously across the 53-decare land and the beach club is thus conceived as a multi-functional whole each part of which can be put to use. The walkways gain significance as a “flowing” element that connects and surrounds a range of seemingly disconnected areas upon the property. Various functions such as a the wedding venue, trampoline, botanical gardens, and golf are thereby associated with one another as part of a whole through the use of a cantilever that runs over the entire area.

In speaking of beach life and culture, the first and most famous name to spring to mind is, of course, Brasil. The project aims to carry the spirit of this beautiful country to an entirely different geography. In doing so, the project strives to reflect this spirit by references to “Niemeyer,” who passed away recently. Even the beach umbrellas are designed in a manner and visual unity that upholds this spirit.

Constituting the architectural character and spatial connections of the project, the meandering walkway and cantilevers are comprised of 560 composite pillars and a nine thousand square meter reinforced concrete roof. For the composite pillars to carry the 14 cm-thin reinforced concrete cantilever, a special solution has been designed uniquely for this project. In order to create such a cantilever in an earthquake zone, conical openings have been made at the points where the pillars meet the cantilever to reduce the punching effect. As this system cannot solely be created by using reinforced concrete, a composite system has been employed by injecting reinforced concrete inside a thick sheet metal pipe.

Project Name: Amburan Beach Club
Project Group: İ. Kerem Erginoğlu, Hasan C. Çalışlar, Fatih Kariptaş, Fulya Arabacıoğlu, Serhat Özkan,
Arman Akdoğan, Ezgi Sönmez, Felix Madrazo, Bas van der Horst

Owner: Pasha Construction
Project Location: Baku / Azerbaijan
Total Construction Area: 11.000m²
Indoor Area: 4.200m²
Construction System: Composite System
Project Type: Beach Club
Photographs : Cemal Emden