By AZE.US
A group of prominent Azerbaijani architects has prepared an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev, calling for stronger protections for the architectural appearance of buildings and the intellectual property rights of their designers.
The initiative was announced by architect Elchin Aliyev, who published the text of the appeal on Facebook and invited other professionals to add their signatures before it is sent to the president.
The architects say that many buildings in Azerbaijan are being altered after completion without sufficient oversight. Unauthorized interventions include the installation of new doors and windows, the expansion or reconstruction of balconies, changes to facades and the addition of structures that were not included in approved designs.
According to the appeal, existing legislation does not adequately protect completed architectural projects from later modifications by property owners.
“As a result, many modern buildings have partially lost their original architectural character and the vision of their authors in recent years,” the architects said.
They warned that the issue goes beyond the appearance of individual buildings. Structures being constructed today will eventually become part of Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage and serve as a record of the country’s present era.
The signatories also expressed concern about losses already suffered by Baku’s architectural heritage. They noted that numerous important examples of 1920s and 1930s constructivist architecture have disappeared, while buildings from the Soviet modernist period of the 1970s and 1980s have also undergone serious and sometimes irreversible changes.
The architects asked President Aliyev to instruct the relevant government agencies to consider establishing an effective protection mechanism.
Their proposals include:
- preventing unauthorized alterations to approved facades and architectural elements;
- requiring major exterior changes to be coordinated with government agencies and, when required by law, the original architect;
- strengthening state and municipal oversight of facade modifications;
- enforcing penalties for unauthorized changes to the architectural appearance of buildings;
- establishing procedures to restore buildings altered without approval;
- strengthening the legal protection of architects’ rights over completed projects.
The appeal also calls for improvements to existing legislation so that architectural works and their authors’ original concepts remain protected after buildings are commissioned.
The initial signatories include Famil Aghayev, Jahangir Akhundov, Ilgar Beylarov, Khalil Jafarov, Elchin Aliyev, Nazim Farajzade, Nariman Imamaliyev and Kamal Musakhanov.
Additional architects have been invited to join the appeal, which is expected to be submitted to President Aliyev in the coming days.
AZE.US