SOCAR Tower
Baku, Azerbaijan

Ground was broken recently in Baku for the future headquarters of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic. We provided structural design services through design development to Heerim Architects & Planners Co. The 32-story, 173-meter office tower will have two levels below grade, an aluminum and glass podium and total approximately 59,000 m2. The tower has a dual lateral structural system consisting of special reinforced concrete shear walls and a special steel moment frame. The tower’s curving façade, which comes to a point at the building’s top, resembles a flame. Baku is a heavy seismic zone and has particularly strong winds. The tower was designed based on IBC 2006 and AISC 358-05 and AISC 341-05 for seismic detailing. The design wind speed is 53 meters per second (50-year, three-second gust). It is also equipped with a tuned mass damper at the top of the roof. Construction is scheduled to be completed in early 2014.