SOCAR Tower

General information
Status	Completed
Type	Headquarters
Architectural style	Structural expressionism
Location	Heydar Aliyev Avenue, Baku, Azerbaijan
Coordinates	40°24′20″N 49°52′53″E / 40.4055158°N 49.8814638°E / 40.4055158; 49.8814638
Construction started	2010
Completed	2016
Opening	2016
Cost	US$ 406.5m^[1]
Owner	SOCAR
Height
Architectural	209 m (686 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	42 (2 underground + 38 overhead dwelling + 2 overhead attic)
Floor area	100,000 m² (1,100,000 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Heerim Architects & Planners Co. Ltd.
Developer	SOCAR
Main contractor	Tekfen Construction and Installation

SOCAR Tower is a skyscraper in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is the 4th tallest building in Baku and in Azerbaijan. The skyscraper serves as the headquarters of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic). It is one of Baku's major landmarks, along with the Flame Towers.

Construction started in 2010^[2] and was completed in 2016. It was the tallest building in Baku until it was surpassed by the Port Baku Towers.

Design

The building, which was designed by Heerim Architects from South Korea, is an example of structural expressionism.^[3] It is composed of two towers which curve around each other as they rise, according to skyscraper.com, "the seemingly shorter tower almost looks like its resting its head on the chest of the taller tower. The taller towers peak slightly bending over it in a confident, reassuring and comforting manner".^[4] The tower is 209 m (686 ft) tall and have 42 floors, covering an area of 12,000 m² (130,000 sq ft) and providing 100,000 m² (1,100,000 sq ft) of usage area. The headquarter mainly houses office space, but it also has conference and sports facilities, a guest house, retail spaces and food outlets.

The building's design is based on a composite system of steel construction (made by Permasteelisa Group) with reinforced concrete walls. The building is designed to be resistant to wind speeds of 190 km/h (120 mph) and a magnitude nine earthquake by the Richter scale.^[2]

The building, designed by South Korean Heerim Architects & Planners Co. Ltd, based on the concept of "wind and fire", was built by the Turkish company Tekfen Construction and Installation.^[4]^[2]