The winners of the competition on architectural planning solutions of Buzovna settlement were announced.

The second stage of the competition named  "Architectural Face of Absheron Settlements" jointly organized by the Union of  Azerbaijan Architects and "Baku Landscaping Service" LLC on the initiative of the Main Department of Baku City Architecture and Urban Planning under the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan was completed. The winners of the competition were determined at the meeting of the jury.

The first stage of the competition program was held at the end of 2020 and covered Ramana, Pirshagi and Amirjan settlements. The second stage of the competition, which began in May, covered Buzovna settlement.

The main purpose of this stage of the competition is to determine the basic artistic style and environmental conception of Buzovna settlement of Absheron, landscape planning solution, architectural solution of streets and neighborhoods, to consider opportunities to improve the existing socio-economic conditions of the population. Another important goal of the general competition is to involve the architects, especially young professionals of the country in the ongoing urban planning, restoration and construction work in the country, to ensure public participation.

18 projects were submitted to participate in the competition with a total prize fund of 20,000 manat. In comparison with the first stage of the competition, each of the projects at Buzovna at this stage was developed with higher professionalism and more accuracy. In the submitted projects, the important things such as protection of historical and architectural heritage, ensuring the interests of the local population, as well as the creation of a modern living environment were reflected in the participants’ proposals regarding development of territories.

In the winning projects, the existing infrastructure problems were broadly studied and interesting proposals were put forward to solve them. The use of a large number of greenery, natural or artificial materials in the solution of several characteristic public places  of the settlement, the use of solar panels in the area, protection of artistic style and composition of a number of historic buildings, facade openings, increasing attractiveness for foreign tourists and improving of tourism infrastructure were proposed in the projects. The projects also proposed the regular parking of cars in the existing road construction schemes, regular layout of existing roads, creation of areas for alternative traffic, sidewalks and green areas, the addition of pedestrian and bicycle lanes, thereby reducing traffic congestion.

The projects were evaluated on the criteria – such as conducted studies  and analysis of projects (history, household life, climate), connection with the historical context, project concept (main idea, originality, symbolism, integrity), expediency of the project structure, task performance, architectural features (reference plan, master plan, facade, landscape), artistic-graphic solution (visual presentation), and development of tourism (determination of tourist route). The innovation introduced in the second stage of the competition - video presentations by the participants explaining the projects - was accepted  with special sympathy by the jury. Thus, in the video presentations, the project was fully visualized and explained by the author. Each of the submitted projects, as well as video presentations explaining the projects were evaluated separately by the jury according to the above – mentioned criteria and the winners of the competition were determined. The author of the project will be involved in the process if the landscaping work will be carried out on the basis of the selected project, the author of the project will also be involved.

More information about the winning projects and their authors can be found at www.absheronsimasi.az.

To  inform that, according to the decision of the jury, the authors of 4 projects selected for the settlement will be awarded with cash prizes: the winner of the 1st place will be awarded 10,000 manat and a diploma of the 1st degree, and the winner of the 2nd place will be awarded 5,000 manat and a diploma of the 2nd degree. The winners of the 3rd place (two places) will be awarded 2,500 manat each and a diploma of the 3rd degree. Other participants will be presented encouraging gifts and participant certificates.

It should be noted that , the Committee has been holding a competition "Architectural face of Absheron settlements" covering a number of settlements since last year with the purpose to revive and preserve the styles and unique colors of local school of architecture in Absheron. On the basis of the winners' proposals in the first program of the competition, reconstruction events  started on April 16 in Pirshagi settlement with the participation of President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva. The committee plans to implement competition programs that will cover other settlements of the peninsula.