Mimicking and blending in with a region’s topography is a trick that most architects are familiar with. The Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) take this art with the Zira Island Masterplan on a very high level.

In October 2008 WAN caught up with the firm’s founding partner, Bjarke Ingles, following their presentation of residential development Mountain Dwellings at the World Architecture Festival Awards in Barcelona, which subsequently won in its category. that was just the beginning?

Man-made mountains, are at the moment the main topic of Bjarke Ingles, and it’s clear as they present details of the Zira Island master plan in Baku, Azerbaijan. Central Asia’s first carbon neutral master plan and he combines a 1 million sq m area of seven cultural, residential and leisure units

From a distance the Island’s topography is an illuminated mountain range, but in reality the landscape is a living, functioning, inhabited space, with seven towers. Zira Island ist the new mountain city, whicha real and natural mountain mimics an a fully sustainable eco-system creates.

Together with engineers Ramboll, BIG’s aim is to create a completely self-sufficient island and additionally combining local building traditions with the latest technologies.