Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is preparing to host the world exhibition EXPO 2017, which will be dedicated to alternative energy sources. Roads and railways, infrastructure facilities, modern houses are being built. As part of the preparations, the construction of a new building for the national bank is also planned. Now the main bank of the country is located in one of the central districts of the capital on Beybitshilik Street in a building whose architecture does not fully correspond to its status and ambitions of a developing city. So one of the largest construction companies in Kazakhstan, BI Group, which is conducting the main work on preparing for the world exhibition, turned to the Kiev architectural bureau "ARCHIMATIKA" with a request to develop a concept for a new bank building.
The construction site is supposed to be in a new area. It will stretch along the still deserted, but already actively built-up street New Orynbor, not far from the capital's airport - a regular rectangular area, not constrained by the surrounding buildings and any restrictions. According to the authors Dmitry Vasiliev, and Alexander Popov, they immediately wanted to create in this place a memorable silhouette, noticeable in the panorama of the flat city. The architects are convinced that Astana needs "mountains": if in the former capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, buildings are located against the backdrop of a majestic mountain panorama, then in the new capital there is no expressive mountain silhouette, no hills - only an endless steppe horizon. Although more and more towers are being built in the business center every year - due to their vertical proportions, they rather form a "forest" emphasizing the horizontal of the earth with their height, and in order for the building to gain in such an environment the importance necessary for the national bank, it is not worth building another tower, " one more tree. " It is necessary to use the "undo contour" architecture. So the idea arose to turn the new bank building into a kind of mountain range.
The shape of the future "ridge" was born gradually. Initially, the architects placed five imaginary long plate volumes on the site. Then the top contour of each plate was carefully deformed, turning their contour into a generalized semblance of a mountain silhouette. The differences turned out to be significant: the maximum height of buildings at the top points was ten floors, the minimum - one. At the same time, the feeling of five separate elongated volumes was preserved: the outer ones united in pairs, like plates superimposed on each other, and in the center, as if in a gorge between the mountains, a wide and not too high atrium block appeared, also with a wavy "mountain" silhouette and its own the main peak.
This construction was dictated by the geometry of the site, and the need to distribute the set of functions by zones. The two distant blocks became administrative. In the central part, in addition to the multi-level atrium, it was possible to conveniently arrange large conference rooms, places for public events, cafes and restaurants for both employees and visitors of the bank. There is a parking lot in the underground part.
Peering one over the other, the asymmetrical "peaks" form a silhouette that really looks like a mountain range on the horizon. Differences in elevation, moreover, allow you to open more city panoramas - at least the front buildings in the upper tiers less obscure the facades of the volumes referred to the interior of the site.
Supporting the main theme, the architects subordinated all facades of the complex to a large pattern of relief rhombuses of two-storey height, reminiscent of the texture of vertically cut rock outcrops. The effect is achieved by combining solid, transparent and translucent triangular panels. The blind parts are planned to be made of white fiber-glass concrete, from which - sloping roofs; the bright white, slightly rough material will look like compressed snow. "Snow caps" are slightly shifted in places, and somewhere they fall down altogether, almost like avalanches.
On the main façade, this "avalanche" is especially noticeable - white "streams" flank the portal of the main entrance. In front of him is a spacious city square; the entire area at the foot of the complex has also been transformed into a green and comfortable public space. The building is separated from the roadway by lanes of guest ground parking lots and public transport stops. Behind them is a wide sidewalk hidden in the shade of trees planted along the street. A string of dry fountains should create a joyful, almost festive atmosphere. And urban furniture in the light of modern street lamps makes the whole space habitable and comfortable.
Unfortunately, so far all the comfort remains only on the visualizations skillfully created by the architects of "ARCHIMATIKA". The authors admit that they do not know the further fate of the project, although there is still a chance to see the snowy peaks of the National Bank of Astana in 2017.
