Badamdar Sustainable Living District – Baku
📍 Badamdar, Baku
🏗 Status: Competition
👥 Project Team: Avcı Architects
🛠 Design Director: Ece Çakır Aidan
Badamdar presents a unique opportunity to create a sustainable, self-sufficient urban district that harmonizes with its natural environment. Designed to embrace climate resilience, renewable energy, and community-driven sustainability, the project envisions a balanced, low-carbon neighborhood where architecture and landscape work in unison.
Harnessing Climate & Wind for Comfort
Badamdar’s warm temperate climate is shaped by strong, persistent winds, especially from the Northwest and West. While challenging, these winds provide a natural cooling advantage in the summer months. The project integrates vertical wind towers into the townhouses and villas, channeling air through passive cooling systems to naturally regulate indoor temperatures. Additionally, strategic afforestation around slopes and residential areas acts as a windbreak, reducing the impact of cold winter winds while enhancing thermal comfort year-round.
Water Management & Regenerative Landscape
The site’s natural topography plays a key role in its water conservation strategy. Areas suited for water collection were identified through topographical analysis and designed as bioswales, which capture and filter rainwater while seamlessly integrating into the landscape. The collected water is then redistributed across the site, creating functional green spaces that contribute to local biodiversity and microclimate regulation.
Energy Efficiency & Carbon Neutrality Vision
The project aims for gradual progression toward zero carbon emissions, leveraging natural energy sources at every stage of development:
Passive House Principles: Highly insulated, airtight homes form the foundation of energy conservation, minimizing heat loss while ensuring controlled natural ventilation with heat recovery systems.
Solar Integration: Rooftop solar panels generate electricity, while solar thermal collectors provide hot water, reducing reliance on external energy sources.
Earth-Sky Connection: By utilizing geothermal energy and passive solar design, the homes merge with their environment to optimize energy efficiency.
Community-Driven Urban Agriculture
Sustainability extends beyond buildings into self-sufficient food production. Residents are encouraged to cultivate their own vegetable gardens, with allocated plots available for those wishing to contribute to local food production. Over time, these individual gardens can expand into shared neighborhood gardens, fostering a strong sense of community and ecological responsibility.
A Sustainable & Balanced Urban Vision
Located within Badamdar Canyon, the project leverages its natural setting to create a garden city district that is environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. By combining climate-sensitive architecture, regenerative landscapes, and community participation, this development offers a future-proof model for sustainable urban living, where people and nature coexist in harmony.
