On September 29-30, the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation of the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana, will simultaneously host two international forums: Astana Architecture and Business & Design Dialogue. The dialogue of architects, designers, representatives of city authorities with developers and tenants-customers will allow not only to exchange experience, but also to establish contacts, find new partners. The program of the forums includes a joint conference, exhibitions and awarding of advanced solutions in the field of architecture and design. In addition to the rich business program, the forum participants will be able to visit excursions and technical tours to the facilities of the EXPO-2017 World Exhibition, which will be held next year in Astana. In anticipation of such an important event, the city is experiencing a real construction boom. The most remarkable objects under construction in Astana today are in our review.
Exhibition complex "Astana EXPO-2017"
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
The main object of the EXPO-2017 exhibition complex will be the pavilion of Kazakhstan. The project was developed by the Chicago bureau Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, which specializes in energy efficient architecture and is active in the Asian market. Unique: eighty meters in diameter - a spherical glass building will become a reality in answer to the question posed by the theme of the exhibition: thanks to solar panels and a wind turbine, it will independently provide itself with energy.
The pavilion is conceived as a multipurpose exhibition hall, transparent and integrated into the surrounding landscape. Communication with the exhibits begins even behind the glass walls of the building: climbing the numerous ramps and stairs, the visitor moves to the entrance through the sculpture park located on a green slope. This slope is a natural amphitheater that can serve as a tribune for up to 7,000 people during mass events.
The main gallery on the ground floor encloses the perimeter of the building. From here, visitors enter the exhibition space: two large-scale high halls are designed for large, up to eight meters, objects of contemporary art; a two-level arcade designed for painting, graphics and small forms. The transparent dome of the sphere allows you to perceive objects of art in natural light, which changes depending on the time of year and day, and its outdoor terrace serves as an excellent viewing platform for the entire Expo Park, since the pavilion is located in its very center. The building area is 4,660 square meters, which will allow receiving up to a thousand visitors per hour, and after the Expo is over, the building will turn into the “Art Center Astana”.
*** MEGA SILK WAY
Chapman taylor
It will be possible to walk to the Expo Park along the "Great Silk Road", this is how - MEGA SILK WAY - the giant mall will be called, which will stretch from the side of the new railway station and the university to the exhibition area. The design of a large-scale, impressive scale of the object was carried out in the Moscow office of the British bureau Chapman Taylor. The bureau has been specializing in retail and leisure projects for fifty years and has gained invaluable experience in this area. The laconic and at the same time dynamic organization of the plan forms the arcs of the shopping galleries and connects them in the main atrium, where the main entertainment objects are concentrated around the elongated lake. This eastern side of the complex is adjacent to the EXPO territory.
The complex is scheduled for completion this fall and will provide the widest range of shopping and entertainment in Kazakhstan. It will house restaurants, a food court, ten cinemas, including an IMAX screen, children's play areas, an ice rink and roller coasters under the roof of the main atrium. A 60-meter high Ferris wheel will appear next to the complex.
It is assumed that the main routes of the Expo guests will run along the galleries and atriums of the center, and after its closure, the mall will remain the main place for family recreation in the city.
*** New railway station
SA architects and INK Architects
One of the most significant, along with the Expo-Park itself, of the objects erected for the exhibition is the New Railway Station. The existing city station cannot cope with the passenger traffic, so its replacement is quite urgent. The emergence of a new station will entail a change and renovation of the entire surrounding area. Its development project provides for the construction of business centers, hotels, parking lots and recreational areas. The station will be connected to the airport by a high-speed bus line (BRT), other public transport will connect it to the center, Expo Park and other areas of the city. The laconic volume of the station, as if hovering over the street, will close the perspective of the Millennium Alley. Its pronounced horizontal smooth outlines contrast with the predominantly vertical forms of the building of the new capital. Filled with greenery and decorated with fountains, Millennium Alley and the nearby embankment should create a cozy, life-filled environment around the station building. The concept of the station and the adjacent area is a joint project of two Kazakh architectural bureaus: SA architects and INK Architects.
*** Abu Dhabi Plaza
Foster + Partners
On the other hand, in relation to the train station, an alley will lead to the Expo territory, which will connect the exhibition with Abu Dhabi Plaza. This joint project with the UAE is a multifunctional complex consisting of several buildings of various storeys. The main tower of Abu Dhabi Plaza, 88 stories high, will be the tallest building in Kazakhstan and Central Asia; it is estimated that the top of its structure will reach approximately 382 meters. The complex was designed in the bureau of Norman Foster, the author of the new symbol of London, the skyscraper Mary Ax, or as it is often called the "London cucumber". In his project for Astana, the English architect used rectangular rather than rounded shapes, which corresponds to the regular layout of the Kazakh capital. The total area of Abu Dhabi Plaza is 500 thousand square meters, it will house offices, residential premises, a hotel, and retail space and parking in the basement floors. Construction began in November 2010 and should be completed at the end of 2016.
Kazakh National Academy of Choreography
"Studio 44"
By the coming academic year, the Kazakh National Academy of Choreography was opened in Astana. The complex of the academy was designed in St. Petersburg "Studio 44", not only excellently recommended itself in the field of cultural objects, but also having experience in designing just such narrow-profile educational institutions - relatively recently they opened in St. Petersburg"
Boris Eifman Dance Academy”. The Kazakh Academy of Choreography is a much larger-scale project, its functional components are divided into four separate, but connected by warm transitions-galleries, volumes. Educational, residential, ballet and theater buildings are lined up along the axis of the wide boulevard. In their search for an architectural language, the architects turned to ancient examples, borrowing from them a proportional structure of structures in which the peristyle motif became dominant. The colonnade gives solemnity to the theater building, and continues in the solution of the facades of a more intimate educational building. It houses a general education school, college and institute, as well as a health complex with a swimming pool and a multifunctional gym. In the ballet building, rehearsal halls (twenty-one in total) are united by a high space of the recreational atrium. In the residential building, a student dormitory is adjacent to service apartments for teachers. The auditorium of the theater is designed for 800 seats.
Multifunctional complex Talan Towers
SOM
The Talan Towers multifunctional complex is under construction on the main square of Astana. Its author is the American bureau SOM, which has been designing skyscrapers since the early fifties and has built about ten thousand high-rise buildings around the world. The American Institute of Architects has twice recognized SOM as the best architectural firm. SOM projects include such famous ones as Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world and one of the most expensive real estate projects, Greenland Tower in China, KL Metropolis in Malaysia and many others. Located in the very heart of the new capital, at the intersection of Dostyk and Turkestan streets, the new complex completes the architectural ensemble of the square, framing the Baiterek monument from the southeast. The advantageous location will allow the complex to acquire the status of a new architectural landmark of Astana and gain popularity among visitors due to the panoramic views of the city center and the Bayterek monument opening from its windows. The ambitious project, which is being built by the Verny Capital group of companies, is designed to provide high-class hotel and business space in the capital. The Talan Towers complex with a total area of 120 thousand square meters consists of two towers of different heights, united by a common three-story stylobate. A business center is planned to be located in the thirty-story tower, another tower will become the luxury five-star hotel The Ritz-Carlton Astana, and residences of the same brand will appear on its upper floors. The ramp part of the complex with a partly green, partly glass roof will be occupied by a shopping gallery, where luxury brands will be presented. But it is especially important that the Talan Towers complex will become the first "green building" in the country, certified according to the international environmental standards LEED. The latest systems of resource conservation, waste reduction and rational life support are provided here.
Multifunctional residential complex BI CITY
INK Architects
In the new capital, there is a constant process of design and construction of residential complexes - more than fifty thousand people arrive in the city every year. One of the most interesting projects in this area in the near future will be the large-scale BI CITY. Its first stage - the Green Quarter - is already under construction. The authors of the project aim to implement energy saving technologies in it, it is assumed that the facilities of the complex will be provided with energy due to solar and wind installations. In addition, the quarter will be surrounded by parks and reservoirs; it is also planned to create a bio-dome on its territory, under which an arboretum will be laid out in an artificial subtropical climate.
Each of the listed objects exists in its own "niche" of the urban space, providing the townspeople with mass or elite shopping, entertainment or a green environment, but it is important that, in general, the direction of this activity provides for a responsible ecological approach, without which, apparently, it is difficult to survive in the steppe, and without which it will be difficult for the planet to survive. You can see how a new city is being created and learn about plans for its development right now - by visiting the forum in September. ***
