Student Ramid Shelimov demonstrated a high level of architectural and conceptual maturity throughout the project. One of the strongest aspects of the thesis is its deep connection to the student’s native place and the critical reinterpretation of a highly problematic industrial territory situated between two residential districts. The project addresses this challenging urban condition with sensitivity and strong analytical understanding.

Conceptually, the proposal is particularly convincing through its use of local materials and construction traditions. The student works thoughtfully with expanded clay, brick, and earth, transforming these elements into a contemporary architectural language through the use of rammed earth construction. The proposed cultural center appears highly relevant for the area, creating a new public space capable of reconnecting the two neighborhoods while simultaneously preserving and communicating the history of the site.

The project is developed at an exceptionally high level in terms of preservation, intervention, spatial organization, and architectural expression. I highly recommend the project for the highest evaluation. Points proposed by supervisor: 90

Ramid Salimov’s thesis titled “From a Lost Factory to Breathing Bricks: The Adaptive Reuse of Yeni Guneshli Brickworks” explores two connected themes—of abandoned industrial sites following the collapse of the USSR, and the disconnect between late socialist planned neighborhoods. His concept proposes two effective solutions: (1) to preserve the historic factory that supplied construction materials that constitute much of the surrounding neighborhood’s built fabric, and (2) to turn it into a formal gravity center for this area of Baku as a museum and a cultural center. The rehabilitation of a currently abandoned industrial site, which is important to the inhabitants due to its history, is in line with some of the best global practices of historic preservation and rehabilitation. In Ramid’s thesis, this approach is particularly justified, since the neighborhoods he is reconnecting with the help of his proposed museum were built during the Soviet era and have not retained built heritage from earlier historic periods, making the factory, an architectural artifact of a relatively recent past, a rare and important historic marker. Neighboring areas are heavily residential and dense, but lack the necessary social infrastructure, such as education and recreation facilities. The socialist centralized construction system collapsed before those could be built; Ramid’s proposal will produce spaces that will be intensively used by the immediate neighbors in place of the infrastructure that was originally planned but never materialized.

On the building scale, Ramid proposes a path through exhibition, education, and community spaces, adding new construction when necessary, and delicately integrating still-standing parts of the factory building when possible. This circulation-centric approach is well-justified with the program. The only notable unresolved issue at this stage of the project is the lack of path development in the immediate proximity to the building on a situational plan scale, something that could help connect important circulation paths inside and outside of the building together into one continuous experience.

Technical solutions proposed for the facades of the building, as well as the approach Ramid takes for naturally and artificially lit spaces inside the building, are coherent and appropriate for the building’s functions.

All in all, this is a well-developed, intelligent, site-specific, and realistic project. Ramid’s work is a proof of skill, knowledge, and ambition consistent with Master’s thesis. I hope he gets to develop this line of thought in his future architectural career. Points proposed by reviewer: 92