Now if we can only get one of these on the Oklahoma River (might want to dam it up just a little bit more though!)

Baku Deathstar Cheap Imitation of Real Thing



At first I thought Rem Koolhaus should sue, he already is building a deathstar in Dubai Ras Al Khaimah, but then George Lucas would have to sue, and even Panasonic might even jump into the battle. Can our few brave pilots in their X-wings handle two Deathstars on one planet?



But fortunately we are safe from such a fate, the Azerbaijani version doesn't have room for monster death rays, it has been squooshed down to hotel dimensions and is but a facade, a set in a cheap western, and no threat at all to our plucky rebels.



It is supposed to look like a full moon, but in the immortal words of Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, "That's no moon!"

It is in fact Full Moon Bay by Korean firm Heerim Architects & Planners- "The Korean firm plans to build the Full Moon Bay and the Caspian Plus on opposite sides of the bay to act as markers of the gateway to Baku. The highlight of the project will be the celestial Hotel Full Moon which will be constructed essentially as a disc with rounded edges and a hole in one of the top corners that would appear drastically different from different viewing angles. The bulky centre will give the front a distinct appearance with the glass diagrid contrasting with the hexagonal honeycombs in the back of the structure. The main building of the hotel will house the 35 storey luxury hotel with 104,182 square meters of space occupying 382 rooms."

No word about whether it is being designed with sustainability in mind.

Article - 1357 - Full Moon Rising


They are also building similar versions of this in Azerbijan and Dubai,UAE

The latest:

These renderings crack me up. I'm an Okie living in Baku, and I wanna know where the beach came from. And what happened to the crappy shipyards and oilfield junk? And how are they going to clean the grime from all the air pollution off the windows? Seriously, they're doing a lot to clean up this city, at least on a superficial cosmetic level, but I don't hold out much hope for any substantive change. Way too much corruption for that.

Heck, don't ask us "Okies" or as I like to say Oklahomans since Okies is more of a derogatory term.

vandrewski, any chance you can post some real pics from Baku? I'd love to see and I'm sure so would others.

does "Okie" seriously still have negative connotations?

I'm seriously asking/not being sarcastic.

I think it depends on your personal view. i was born in raised here and i don't mind being called an Okie.

If it's ok with Merle Haggard it's ok with me.

Given what I've been called on some occasions, tis hard to consider Okie the least bit derogatory, though I readily concede it has been used in just such a fashion.

If you talk to many Left Coasters (especially those in the PACNW especially Seattle), they are using the term more than ever intentionally being derogatory because of the Sonics situation. I've talked to/heard several people in Oregon/California say the same thing about "Okie's" regardless of the Sonics situation, but using it in a derogatory sense. When I was skiing at Angel Fire New Mexico last year, some people there were using it as a derogatory term and referring to our "dust bowl" type of state. Apparently, there are enough outsiders that still associate Okie with dust bowl, etc.

And I sure as heck don't want to be associated with these types of Okie's:


Okie Noodling

California had (and may still have) "The Anti-Okie Law".

Now metro, some folks see nutthin' wrong with a little bare handed fun.
Me, I like my fish after they're already battered but I'm lazy like that at times.

I think the much older Oklahomans (the ones who remember the Dust Bowl) are still offended by "okie", but most of us don't mind. I don't.

Sorry, I'm working offshore at the moment and don't have any photos of Baku on my work computer. I did find a site with some decent photos, BakuPhotos.com | The best photos of Baku in the Internet, but of course they all make the place look nice. The ones under the "Industrial Baku" and "Oil Industry" links are a little closer to reality. The port cranes are pretty much the view that Death Star hotel would have.

Seriously, the city isn't all bad, but it does have some big problems with garbage, littering, sewage, traffic and air pollution. There's an amazing amount of construction going on, but it doesn't inspire much confidence. One has to wonder who's going to live in all these fancy highrise apartment buildings when the average income is only a couple hundred bucks. And what will they do with all the extra cars these building bring in, or how can the delapidated utilities systems accomodate an even higher population density. Not to mention the non-existant building codes. One 20 story building under construction collapsed a few months ago, killing several construction workers. I personally refuse to live in anything that hasn't already survived at least one earthquake. I hear they're putting in a bid for the 2016 Olympics. That will never happen, but if it inspires them to fix up the city, then it's a good thing.

I'm the owner of BakuPhotos.com | The best photos of Baku in the Internet ... so let's me comment on your post.

Obviously, the site doesn't show the real Baku. The purpose of the site was to show the better side of Baku. Any city would have places you wouldn't show to your guests, and Baku is no exception. It is very similar to what people do in the morning - men shave and woman apply make-up, noone goes to work from the bed.

3D renderings in the photos above are obviously far from reality. The sea is not as blue as it is shown, in fact it is very polluted especially along the city wharf. There is a lot of construction going on in the city, and a few years ago it was really chaotic. Developers were erecting rather ugly buildings anywhere where they could find a suitable plot of land. At present, it seems as if city authorities pay closer attention at buildings architecture, but it is hard to tell for sure.

There are a few mega-projects under construction at the moment. Lots of oil money is flowing in, and it funds all of this.

this link has more photos.
[BAKU] Projects & Construction - SkyscraperCity