| Flame Towers | |
|---|---|
Alov qüllələri | |
 | |
 Interactive map ofFlame Towers | |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete (MOO) |
| Type | office,residential,hotel,shopping mall |
| Architectural style | Highrise,glass |
| Location | Baku,Azerbaijan |
| Construction started | October 2007 |
| Opening | 2013 |
| Cost | US$350 million |
| Owner | Azinko Development MMC |
| Height | |
| Roof | 182 m (597 ft) - Flame Tower 1[1] 165 m (541 ft) - Flame Tower 2[2] 161 m (528 ft) - Flame Tower 3[3] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 33/30/28 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | HOK |
| Structural engineer | Balkar Mühendislik |
| Main contractor | DIA Holding Azerbaijan |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheFlame Towers (Azerbaijani:Alov qüllələri) are a group of threeskyscrapers inBaku,Azerbaijan. The main contractor, Dia Holdings, is owned by two brothers who are linked to Azerbaijan's rulingAliyev family's network of offshore companies.[4]
The height of the tallest tower is 182 m (597 ft).[5] The three flame-shaped towers are intended to symbolize the elements of fire, and are a reference to Azerbaijan's nickname "The Land of Fire", historically rooted in a region wherenatural gas flares emit from the ground and Zoroastrian worshipers considered flames to be a symbol of the divine (notably at theAteshgah of Baku andYanar Dag).
The three buildings (South, East and West) consist of 130 residentialapartments over 33 floors, aFairmonthotel tower that includes 250 rooms and 61 serviced apartments, andoffice blocks which provides a net 33,114 square meters of office space.[6]
The cost of Flame Towers was an estimated US$350 million. Construction began in 2007, with completion in 2012.[7]HOK was the architect for the project, DIA Holdings served as the design-build contractor, andHill International provided project management.[8]
The Flame Towers are completely covered with LED screens that display the movement of a fire, visible from the furthest points of the city. The facades of the three Flame Towers function as large display screens with the use of more than 10,000 high-powerLEDluminaires, supplied by theOsram subsidiaryTraxon Technologies andVetas Electric Lighting.[9] The light show transitions from giant flames, the colours of the Azerbaijani flag, a figure waving a flag, and huge tanks of water being filled. Transition times are roughly two minutes.[10]
The buildings are featured inExtreme Engineering, adocumentarytelevision series that airs on theDiscovery Channel and theScience Channel. The episode called "Azerbaijan's Amazing Transformation" was broadcast on 22 April 2011 as part of Season 9.
The Flame Towers also appeared prominently in trailers before many entries for theEurovision Song Contest 2012 hosted in Baku (and, in the next 4 years, with the pre song trailer based in the singer's home area, features in the trailer before the Azerbaijan song).
The towers are also a prominent landmark in the video gameBattlefield 4, with the first level of the single player campaign taking place in Baku. Additionally, the towers were often shown during coverage of the initialFormula OneEuropean Grand Prix held in Baku.
A peer-reviewed publication in 2020 noted the Flame Towers "...are something of a Potemkin edifice in that one of the towers houses a Fairmont Hotel while the other two are unoccupied."[11]
.jpg)
40°21′34″N49°49′36″E / 40.35944°N 49.82667°E /40.35944; 49.82667