Client: State Committee on Property Issues / Baku
Construction period: 2011-2012
Location: Baku
Country: Azerbaijan

The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest was won by Azerbaijan. One year later, Azerbaijan itself presented the annual international music competition in May 2012 from the newly built ‘Baku Crystal Hall’.

This new, multifunctional hall in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, was constructed in a record time of only 8 months by general contractor ALPINE Bau Deutschland AG. Other partners involved in this project were gmp International GmbH and NUSSLI AG.

Normally, buildings the size of football stadiums need about 4 to 5 years for the design and construction process. In order to complete the hall within such a short period, design, engineering and construction work all took place in parallel. The ‘Baku Crystal Hall’ was implemented as a pure steel structure consisting of three independent parts: the modular stadium, the inner roof and the membrane exterior. The roof alone weighs around 2400 tonnes. The hall was built in accordance with German and European standards and meets the strictest requirements for sport and concert halls.

The Eurovision Song Contest was watched live in the hall over three days by an audience of about 18,000 people. For other events, the hall can accommodate approximately 25,000 spectators. With its impressive exterior, the ‘Baku Crystal Hall’ has already become the new landmark in the port of Baku. The outer membrane facade provides the hall with its extraordinary crystal appearance. Equipped with 80,000 LED lights, the external ambience can be adapted into 6000 different hues during the course of an event.

Technical details:
Length: 206 m
Width: 168 m
Height: 25 m
Building volume: approx. 700,000 m³
Facade area: approx. 31,130 m²
Concrete: approx. 7000 m³
Steel: approx. 8000 t
Illuminated exterior: 80,000 LED lights