NEWS //
Full Moon Rising: Azerbaijan’s Death Star Hotel
by Shabana
Move over, Dubai – there’s a new kid on the block, and he’s got even wilder architectural designs under his belt.
The gleaming futuristic looking Full Moon Hotel has an unlikely location – Baku, Azerbaijan, a former member of the Soviet Union. It’s designed to look different depending on the angle you view it from. The full frontal is, quite frankly, the most terrifying view. You wouldn’t want to be across the water from the Death Star-like structure with an evil looking giant eye on the top right hand corner.
The view from the side is more playful – what looks like a bulging round space ship is actually a flat diskette shaped structure.
Now on to the actual living conditions, and the interiors promise to be lavishly spacious – just 382 rooms spread across 35 floors and 104,182 square meters of space. The Full Moon Hotel sits on a wavy podium with two apartment complexes at either side, named, quite fittingly, Palace of Wind 1 and 2.
It’s interesting to see how so many of these futuristic looking designs are moving eastward. Traditionalists may cringe at the Full Moon Hotel’s design with thousands of hexagonal honeycombs running through its back, but you have to admit, it is a change from conventional tall, drab blocks of concrete with no defining features for miles.
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March 6th, 2008
[...] Vía | Vagabondish [...]
March 6th, 2008
I’m not quite sure what I think about these types of hotels. These types of places seem to be built almost mockingly.
According to the UN, 49.6 per cent of citizens in Azerbaijan live below the poverty line! This money for building these hotels could’ve been better spent elsewhere…
March 6th, 2008
I couldn’t agree more, Louise. The level of excess so prevalent in the “luxury” travel industry is oftentimes mortifying.
March 6th, 2008
Thanks, I think there has to be more balance on reporting these “fabulous new hotels”…
Vagabondish is not an exception to the media bias, as I had thought for so long…
March 6th, 2008
Point taken. You’re absolutely right on ensuring “more balance”. And we’ve made a conscious decision to cut way back on the amount of these types of stories that we publish here.
I made a belated New Year’s resolution to stop blogging about Dubai and it’s “next new wild and wacky architectural indulgence”. We get it: they have a lot of money and they’re not afraid to pi$$ it away on pointless excess.
It makes for great headlines, but in the end it’s all sizzle and no steak.
March 6th, 2008
Yeah, I know, the visuals are stunning…
March 6th, 2008
BTW I’m following you on twitter now!
March 6th, 2008
Well thank you! I’m still really not sure what it’s all about, but I’ll figure it out eventually …
March 6th, 2008
Yeah me neither, I just signed up yesterday.
March 7th, 2008
I think this is over the top, I mean the artistic rendering is so sparkly and out of this world that I really can’t even fathom what it’d look like actually built. I’m sure impressive, but certainly not as cool as the picture. Meanwhile what kind of a Moon, if not a Death Star, has a random hole in it? Is it immitating a crater which happens to go completely through it? Having something which looks cool certainly is a draw, but I really don’t know if I’d like that on my skyline…
Meanwhile this country makes billions off of oil and yet complains daily about it’s (exaggerated) “1 million” internally displaced persons and how they don’t even have a proper roof over their head. I guess simple things like shacks for refugees aren’t flashy enough for a place like Azerbaijan to spend it’s billions on when comparing it to recreating Naboo on their shoreline (which looks like it’s right out of Caribbean in the picture- when in actuality Baku and its shore were recently named the most polluted city on earth, another thing they should consider before making moonscapes. Oil derricks are suspiciously absent from the arcadian rendering.)
March 13th, 2008
[...] Vía Vagabondish [...]
March 13th, 2008
[...] I can’t get enough of blog posts about crazy hotel architecture. Do you think the Full Moon Hotel is real? It looks just like the Death Star! We won’t know unless we go to Baku, Azerbaijan. [...]
March 17th, 2008
OMG! Have you been to Baku, Azerbaijan????
I have and can not think of a more inappropriate place to put such a building.
I am wondering who the heck is going to fill this thing???
I am not sure what is more strange, the building or the location. Some how, I have a feeling this is one of those projects that will never get completed.
March 17th, 2008
Incredible!!!
March 18th, 2008
While the location is perhaps questionable, the design is pretty amazing. Your article however, fails to point out that there will be a second building/ complex that will be built across the bay by the same architects.
I couldn’t find who is financing the projects but it is possible that they are trying to put Baku on the map which is what you need to do if you want to attract more business and tourism to the city. I’m all for it!
March 18th, 2008
No carbon footprints here eh? Take a look at http://www.naissance-villas.com
based on Koh Samui Thailand.
Another fabulous constuction is http://www.nikolsons.com
All built for the very wealthy. Architecture is very subjective. Nature isn’t.
i would like to know how eco friendly these contemporary structures are.
March 19th, 2008
That’s no moon, that’s a space station!
Also, I agree with the people who say that this money could be better spent helping the poor…
March 20th, 2008
Wow, stunning architecture!
December 30th, 2008
Hmm i live Baku and never heard about such project. But think it can be true. Oficials in our government have sucked so mmany money that they can realise any ideas even childish and useless. Because they are child who just thinks about increasing there finance and imagining imposeable dreams. They just can’t think wider about cauntry about government and even wider !
February 9th, 2009
SUPER! Welcome to Baku now or 10 years later
April 13th, 2009
Hi everyone,
Well, i am not surprised, and I did hear about this before, but you should also check out another development thats supposed to be built on an island off the coast of Baku.
I am from Baku but currently live and work abroad. I think this is ridiculous- Azerbaijani government has gone so corrupt that now it doesn’t know where to spend all the money. If only they could focus more on the country itself rather than building these uber- luxurious developments for obviously only those who can afford it.
The government simply does not understand this: Baku will never be another Abu Dhabi or Dubai because while in these cities people actually earn money and can afford to buy flats in these apartments, in Azerbaijan a person with an average salary of 150EUR a month will never be able to afford this.
May 14th, 2009
I agree with what Isa, Reshad and Arzu said. I live in Baku too and know the situation. People at the government don’t think about poor people that can’t afford much because their salary is just nothing. First of all they have to get rid of the CORRUPTION!!! That’s almost 80% of the problem. Then they should fix all the problems with health care, education, refugees, people well-being, local environment and then start thinking about fantastic hotels and tourist attractions.
December 17th, 2009
[...] Hotel Sidi Driss, where part of Star Wars was filmed, or come to the dark side with a visit to this “Death Star”-shaped hotel. More space age lodging awaits, or, alternatively, your own galactic suite. Or, stay down to earth [...]
October 15th, 2010
Very FANTASTIC.
October 15th, 2010
The Architect did a really GREAT job! I hope I could find a video or an article about his/her concept..
People, c’mon… it was the owner’s choice whether he/she will put up this hotel or not.
Baku people, you’re lucky you have these structures in your place..