The new building of the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan is planned to be built in the southern part of Astana at the intersection of Orynbor and Turar Ryskulov streets, opposite the projected town "EXPO-2017". When designing such an important object, the architects were forced to solve not only compositional and planning tasks. First of all, they had to find a compromise between the known secrecy of this department (after all, whatever one may say, issues of national security do not tolerate crowds and fuss) and the fact that such inaccessibility protects the interests of the state and society. The first thing that Studio 44 did was to divide the conditional parallelepiped of the future ministry into several separate volumes. And then, so to speak, the army bearing came to the rescue: the corps were not supposed to be alike like two drops of water, but possessing a single rhythm and style, they lined up in a solemn line, eloquently testifying to the strength and power of the Ministry of Defense.
I also had the closest architectural context to a solution with a fractional multi-part composition: a residential area is located right behind the future ministry, and the one planned opposite EXPO-2017 is precisely the town in which exhibition buildings form a developed system of quarters and streets. Forming the front of Orynbor Street, the extended building of the Ministry of Defense simultaneously works both as a wall separating the residential buildings of the quarter from the noisy highway, and as a representative vis-a-vis the international exhibition complex. However, this wall is not solid - it is composed of six free-standing towers, which are united by two horizontal elements: a massive stylobate that raises the volumes above the street, and a slab-floor located at a height of 51 m from the ground.
Vertical volumes are used to accommodate departments (of which there are exactly six), while the horizontal "beams" are collected public functions. So, inside the stylobate there are parking lots, sports and medical centers, and a barracks. There are also checkpoints and main service entrances to the complex.
Separately, it should be said about the two-level roof of the stylobate. The first level is located at an elevation of 9.000 m and is interpreted as an open public space at the foot of the towers, which is connected with the street and the front square in front of the entrance to the complex by a system of stairs and ramps. It is important that the flows of visitors and employees of the ministry are already separated on this square: employees enter the building from the ground level through two controlled entrances, and visitors go up to the first level of the podium and enter one of the guest lobbies. On the second level of the stylobate (+15,000 m), there are grounds for a military ceremonial: ceremonial structures, raising a flag, etc., and you can get here both by an open staircase and from the second floors of the towers.
This ramified system of open public spaces, including the entrance square, flights of stairs and stylobate levels, is supposed to be decorated with exhibits from the Museum of Military Glory - museum-fueled samples of military equipment, thematic bas-reliefs, sculptures, etc. As conceived by the architects, this will fill the approaches to the building with additional meaning, turning the progress towards it into an exciting excursion and clearly demonstrating the main activity of the department located here.
In the upper horizontal plate, the authors of the project have collected functions that are equally necessary for all departments. The restaurant, bar, staff canteen and gala dining room are positioned to provide the best views of the new city center, with numerous assembly, assembly, auditorium, foyer and meeting rooms alternating with outdoor terraced courtyards. Here, on the twelfth floor, there are ceremonial rooms for receiving official delegations and an officers' club (the bowl of the main audience "sprouted" under the ceiling, forming a spectacular half-dome above the main staircase of the complex), as well as the Museum of Military Glory, access to which is provided for visitors from the roof stylobate with a separate lift group.
It is important that this slab, having a height of only one floor, looks like a thin plate against the background of the entire complex. In addition, it does not cover the towers from above, but stitches them through and through, giving the strict composition of the complex not only elegance, but also a certain drama. This solution, by the way, made it possible to free the roofs of the towers themselves for more serious than public functions, tasks: a helipad and all kinds of communications are located here.
The towers themselves have extremely laconic facades, the thin lathing of which gives the buildings a uniquely administrative character. And yet, these volumes are not very similar to the soldiers stretched out at attention: the architects deliberately give them different shapes in the plan: somewhere they are rectangles, somewhere squares, and somewhere rhombuses. The authors did not even place the central staircase exactly in the middle between the towers. On the contrary, within the framework of the general "order" they form obvious pairs, and the two openings between the "twos" are enlarged. It is in one of these openings that the solemn march of the staircase is inscribed, and in the second is the "trunk" of the same passenger elevator connecting the stylobate and the museum.
The monumental composition proposed by Studio 44 can be interpreted as an ensemble of several giant triumphal arches and portals: emphatically modern in their proportions and geometry, they not only form the image of a state institution of paramount importance, but also make the new building of the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan compatible with the new development of Astana.
