Here are the first photographs of Zaha Hadid's almost-completed Heydar Aliyev Centre, an undulating cultural centre in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Expected to open in September, the 57,000 square-metre building is designed by Zaha Hadid Architects as a fluid volume that folds up from the landscape to form a single continuous surface.

Glazed openings between folds will offer entrances, leading into the library, museum and conference centre contained inside.

The building was recently nominated for awards at both this year's World Architecture Festival and the biennial Inside Festival.

In the last year Hadid has completed several buildings, including a 142-metre tower in Marseille and a 330,000-square-metre retail, office and entertainment complex in Beijing.

She also recently purchased the current building of the Design Museum in London and is planning to convert it into an archive of her studio's designs. See more stories about Zaha Hadid »