SONG CONTEST 2012

From sketch to final stage within 8 months.

THE MIRACLE OF BAKU
Realising the miracle of Baku was a unique challenge. Less than five weeks after the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, a planning team presented a choice of two design concepts for the new arena upon request from Azerbaijan. In Baku on 1 July 2011, a newly established three-party team – NUSSLI, ALPINE, and gmp introduced these concepts. Only a week later a preliminary contract was signed, which was followed on 2 August, after a brief round of negotiations, by the final building contract.

THE CHALLENGE - A MULTI FUNCTIONABLE ARENA
The arena had to be completed nine months later, and not just as a provisional structure for a single television spectacle as originally envisaged. The client requested an indoor arena seating up to 25'000, usable for future events for at least ten years. Following our own recommendation, it also had to be convertible into an open-air football stadium. The countdown started with the first drilling for the pile foundations in the soft ground of the raised peninsula on 2 August – on the day the contract was concluded.

OUR INVOLVEMENT