The architectural interpretation is a subtle knife . It can be used to win over , intimidate , and generate laffs — orall three at once , if you ’re really good . Such is the case with this aggregation of renderings , which show proposed designs for the upcoming2017 World Expoin Kazakhstan .
The Expo will bring an estimated three million people to Astana , the capital letter of Kazakhstan , in less than four twelvemonth . When they get there , they ’ll be treated to showing from over a hundred different rural area , all locate within a central hub — the design of which is still up in the air . Last spring , the exhibition organizers invited international firms to offer idea for these space — and the resulting designs are on view in Astana now ( the winner will be harbinger next month ) .
Astana is already home to some fairly bonkers architecture , halt both from its history as a Soviet outpost and its recent building microphone boom , which has fancy the mental synthesis of dozens of enormous , futuristic structure . plan in a conniption of wishful mentation , its bombastic buildings are vastly too large for the bit of people who use them . As writer Jeffrey Inaba onceexplained :
A photographic inventory of recent and not - so - recent architecture show up that Kazakhstan ’s Interior are as attractively over - scaled as their out-of-door counterparts . Hallways are dimension to accommodate rush - hour Tokyo walker dealings . Classrooms are longer than the space a teacher ’s voice can carry . vestibule are proportion for the largest conceivable assembly of masses . Vegetation , which is not present outside for most of the year , is strategically arrange to fill the inevitable void in composition . The potted plant is an architectural detail .
These Expo intent — which hail from architects all over the humans — seem to continue the tendency over overbuilding . And it ’s hard to say whether hosting the World Expo will be a well investing for the city . More and more critics arequestioningthe value traditionally placed upon hosting outside issue like the Olympics and the World Cup , fence that the investment necessitate to build up mammoth new structures and locus ends up dragging master of ceremonies city into mysterious debt .
It ’s still too other to say whether the same number will befall Astana . So for now , let ’s enjoy the rendering costless of setting , shell , or questions about their value . Here we go !
Kokkugia ( UK ):
J. Mayer H. Architects ( Germany ):
Mecanoo ( Netherlands ):
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture ( USA ):
Zaha Hadid Architects ( UK ):
UNStudio ( Netherlands ):
Studio Pei - Zhu ( China ):
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Wolf D. Prix & Partner ZT GmbH ( Austria ):
Safdie Architects ( USA ):
Serie Architects ( UK ):
See the full list of entrants onBustler .
Architecturekazakhstan
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