Зоопарк-стрекоза

По материалам Sob.ru

Казанский зоопарк был основан при Казанском университете в 1806 году Карлом Фуксом. В 1829 году для закладки ботанического сада были приобретены прибрежные участки на берегу озера Кабан площадью 6,7 га. В 1834 году на этой территории возвели оранжерею, и ботанический сад открылся для посещения. Сегодня в этой самой старой оранжерее комплекса находятся пальмы, высаженные в прошлом веке, некоторые экземпляры могут похвастаться почтенным возрастом, перевалившим за 150 лет. Сегодня зоопарк намерены расширить до размеров гигантской стрекозы.

Мастер-план реконструкции Казанского зоопарка разрабатывался известным британским архитектурным бюро Atkins.С высоты птичьего полета новый Казанский зооботанический сад будет напоминать гигантскую стрекозу, присевшую на водную гладь. Роль «крыльев» будут играть два торгово-развлекательных корпуса, выполненные в виде двух гигантских овалов, а в качестве «туловища» насекомого трактован изящный пешеходный мост из стекла, соединяющий два берега протоки. вольеры, террариумы и павильоны на другой берег Ботанической протоки озера Кабан, а на освободившемся месте возвести семейный развлекательный комплекс с ресторанами, кафе и панорамной террасой, с которой будет открываться вид на зоопарк.

Обновление Казанского зооботанического сада будет проведено в три очереди. Первый этап предусматривает реконструкцию самого зоопарка и его перенос на противоположный берег Ботанической протоки. Ориентировочная стоимость этих мероприятий – $30 млн. Второй этап – это строительство семейного развлекательного центра ориентировочной стоимостью $80 млн. И наконец, на заключительном этапе на берегу озера Средний Кабан будет создан Саванна-парк.

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in danger

Spain's most visited monument, Barcelona's extravagant Sagrada Familia church, could collapse if plans to build a high-speed rail link underneath the architectural wonder go ahead. The rail would run directly beneath its 22,000 tonne facade could threaten the church's grand entrance.
Antoni Gaudi's still-unfinished temple, under construction for 125 years, is famed for a revolutionary design that mixed art nouveau decoration with never-attempted engineering technology. Its 170-metre (560-foot) high spindle-shaped towers are Barcelona's most distinctive landmark.

The design proposed by Spain's railway infrastructure agency puts the tunnel just 75cm (30 inches) from special supports that adjoin the church's foundations. Moreover, geologists warn the tunnel's support wall would suck corrosive sea water up into the church's foundations.
The plan to dig the 12-metre (26-foot) wide tunnel below the Sagrada Familia has to win approval from city authorities, but some Catalan nationalists are already muttering the project is a Spanish plot to humble the autonomous region.

The proposed tunnel would link Barcelona to Girona and later, to France. A high-speed AVE line from Madrid to Barcelona is expected to be finished later this year, halving the time it takes to make the 370m journey between Spain’s two largest cities to only two and a half hours.

“We are extremely concerned about the tunnel passing so close,” said Jordi Bonet, the cathedral’s director, explaining that a protective wall would be built just 75cm (30in) from the foundations. Mr. Bonet, the chief architect who has spent 22 years trying to finish Antoni Gaudí’s surreal masterpiece, says the planned excavations “could prove fatal” for the landmark and cause “irreversible damage”. Giant tunneling machines will bore a 12m (39ft) wide tunnel through the sandy, water-logged land under the cathedral, he said, risking subsidence or flooding. Even if the cathedral survives the construction, Mr. Bonet fears the vibrations from trains could open cracks in the building or shake tiles loose from the ceilings, which tower 75m above tourists’ heads. Several thousand local residents have also joined the campaign, fearing that their homes could be affected. “We must protect the Sagrada Família,” they said in a recent statement, after forming a human chain around the cathedral. “We cannot allow anyone to endanger Gaudí’s jewel.”

Late april, 100 university professors signed a document opposing against the construction of the tunnel that could be fatal to Sagrada Familia. The International Council on Monuments and Sites, which advises Unesco on world heritage sites, has condemned plans for the tunnel as well.

Yurts in the airport of Kazakhstan

Communiqué de presse en français ICI

A futuristic project has been started by ADPi at the international airport of Almaty, Kazakhstan.

A combination of glass and wood, the uniqueness of ADPi's project, is to propose a building in the shape of three yurts, traditional tents used by nomadic people in central Asia. This layout will facilitate future expansion of the terminal capacities, by adding other "yurts" to the existing ones. The new terminal will absorb the important increase in traffic recorded by the airport (23% growth in 2006), for a traffic slightly over 2 million passengers. The works should end in less than two years.

With 32,000 m² the building can handle, at the beginning, 1,500 passengers per hour and 2 million passengers per year. ADPi will carry out studies to eventually reach a final capacity of 6 million passengers per year.

ADPi was created in 2000 as a subsidiary of Aeroports de Paris.It provides design, architecture, engineering and project management services. Aeroports de Paris builds, develops and manages airports including Paris-Orly, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Le Bourget.

Aeroports de Paris is the 2nd European airport group in terms of airport turnover and the 1st European airport group in terms of cargo and mail. Aeroports de Paris accomodates nearly 460 airlines, mainly the major actors of air transport.

Philharmonie de Paris par Jean Nouvel

Un auditorium symphonique de 2 400 places, un pôle pédagogique pour les professionnels de la musique et les étudiants, une bibliothèque, des espaces consacrées à des expositions et des commerces : voilà en substance l’ensemble des activités qui composeront la Philharmonie de Paris, qui devrait ouvrir ses portes en 2012 dans le Parc de la Villette (XIXème arrondissement).

Ce projet ambitieux coûtera 200 millions d’euros et sera réalisé par l'architecte Jean Nouvel, lauréat du concours pour réaliser l'auditorium.

Il a présenté le 12 avril son projet de bâtiment en forme de colline constituée de plans superposés gris, «en harmonie» avec le parc de la Villette environnant. Selon l'AFP, le futur auditorium, qui doit ouvrir ses portes en octobre 2012, a été pensé «comme une butte» de 36 mètres de haut, sur laquelle on peut monter, a indiqué Nouvel.


Cette «colline» est constituée de superpositions de plans obliques en pavés de fonte d'aluminium gris. A l'intérieur, la salle de concert de 2400 places, modulable en fonction des musiques présentées (symphonique d'abord, mais aussi jazz ou musiques du monde) sera de conception «enveloppante», a-t-il dit.

La construction sera financée à par l'Etat (45%), la ville de Paris (45%) et la la Région Ile-de-France (10%). Le chantier doit démarrer en septembre 2009 pour ouverture de l'auditorium en octobre 2012.

(sources: Abeilleinfo, RFI, France2 )

Abu Dhabi stunning development projects

As discussed in the previous post, "The Louvre in the Desert", Abu Dhabi plans to build a $27 billion tourist and cultural development on Saadiyat Island, opposite the city. The project includes:

- Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,

- maritime museum

- performing arts center,

- Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The first tourist attractions will be available for viewing in 2012, and the entire project is scheduled for completion in 2018. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has commissioned no less than four of the world's most famous architects to create what promises to become one of the world's most important cultural destinations: Frank O. Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Tadao Ando and Zaha Hadid.

1) Abu Dhabi Guggenheim

With its spectacular architecture of compressed and intricately interconnected cuboids, prisms, cones and cylinders, and with a total area of almost 30,000 square meters (323,000 square feet), the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim will probably far outshine its New York City predecessor. Gehry is satisfied: "Approaching the design of the museum for Abu Dhabi made it possible to consider options for design of a building that would not be possible in the United States or in Europe," he says, adding that, "It was clear from the beginning that this had to be a new invention."

2) Performing Arts Center
Fifty-seven-year-old Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who lives in London, also has bombastic plans. Her Performing Arts Center, a building complex 62 meters (203 feet) tall, will include two concert halls, an opera and two theaters. The total number of seats will be 6,300 -- about as many as the Lincoln Center in New York has. Like the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the theater complex will also offer spectacular views of the Persian Gulf and the skyline of the city.

3) Maritime Museum
Tadao Ando's Maritime Museum promises to be another highlight. Born in 1941, the minimalist architect is known for his austere style, which combines the Japanese Zen tradition with the modernist penchant for bare concrete. Inspired by dhows, the traditional sailing vessels of Arab merchants, Ando has designed a fragile-looking building in the shape of an abstract sail curved by the wind. Embedded in an oasis-like natural scenario dominated by a subterranean aquarium, Ando's restrained architecture promises to become a popular haven of contemplative peace within the planned architectural overkill.

The so-called Biennale Park, another development project planned for Saadiyat Island, openly acknowledges its Venetian inspiration with 19 pavilions designed by 19 younger architects. Hani Rashid is one of them. He's an Egyptian architect who lives in New York and is considered one of the most important contemporary architectural theorists. The park will be criss-crossed by a 1.5 kilometer (0.9 mile) navigable canal. As the country with the highest per capita income in the world, the United Arab Emirates certainly have no inhibitions about competing with the traditional cultural capitals of the world.

Of course, all these cultural highlights also require a tourist infrastructure that can cope with the masses of people expected to arrive from all over the world. Two 10-lane highways will connect Saadayat Island to the city and the airport. The completion of 29 hotels -- including a seven-star luxury hotel that is presumably Abu Dhabi's reply to to the legendary Burj Al Arab in Dubai -- is planned for 2018. There will also be a marina for cruise ships and moneyed yacht-owners, expected to provide mooring for about 1,000 vessels.

Saadayat Island promises to far outdo Las Vegas and Bilbao -- the traditional red rags for cultural pessimists and critics of tourism -- in terms of its capacity to provoke. And yet many culture fans may end up in Abu Dhabi sooner or later -- whether to admire the city or just to rant.

Source: Spiegel Intl

The Louvre in the Desert

$520 million, that is the amount that Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, agreed to pay to attach the Louvre’s name to a museum that it hopes to open in 2012. And there is more: in exchange for art loans, special exhibitions and management advice, Abu Dhabi will pay France an additional $747 million.

For Abu Dhabi, the deal is an important step in its plan to build a $27 billion tourist and cultural development on Saadiyat Island, opposite the city. The project’s cultural components include a Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a maritime museum and a performing arts center as well as the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel as a 260,000-square-foot complex covered by a flying-saucer-like roof, is expected to cost around $108 million to build. Planned as a universal museum, it will include art from all eras and regions, including Islamic art.Jean Nouvel is not planning to build a single gargantuan building, but rather a "microcity" -- a cluster-like collection of differently sized building types directly by the sea. The ensemble will be dominated by a great, light-flooded dome, conceived of as a symbolic link between world cultures.The dome is "made of a web of different patterns interlaced into a translucent ceiling which lets a diffuse, magical light come through in the best tradition of great Arabian architecture," Nouvel says. That he, of all people, was commissioned to design this building was kept secret until the last moment. Nouvel already crafted an architectural bond between the East and the West 20 years ago, in the form of the Institut du Monde Arabe (1981-1987) in Paris.

The project will be overseen by a new International Agency for French Museums that is to include the Musée d’Orsay, the Georges Pompidou Center, the Musée Guimet, the Château de Versailles, the Musée Rodin, the Musée du Quai Branly and the Louvre among its members.
Apart from paying $520 million to the French agency for the use of the Louvre name for 30 years, with $195 million to be paid within one month, Abu Dhabi has also agreed to make a direct donation of $32.5 million to the Louvre to refurbish a wing of the Pavillon de Flore for the display of international art.

This gallery, to be ready by 2010, will carry the name of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, the founder and longtime ruler of the United Arab Emirates, who died in 2004.
Abu Dhabi will also finance a new Abu Dhabi art research center in France and pay for restoration of the Château de Fontainebleau’s theater, which will be named after Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the current president.

For a government-owned cultural institution in France to carry the name of a corporate or foreign donor is also a first and may well raise eyebrows here. In the past, for instance, the Louvre has turned down offers of financial help from philanthropists who asked that galleries be named after them in return.

Critics of the plan accused France of “selling its soul”, but the decision was made by the French government. It owns most major French museums and, by all accounts, President Jacques Chirac has concluded that this is one global market where France can compete effectively. On matters of state, the Louvre’s opinion, reportedly unenthusiastic in this case, carries little weight.

The first shot of criticism was fired last month by three leading lights of the French art world — including Françoise Cachin, a former director of French museums — who complained loudly not only about the Abu Dhabi project, but also about the Louvre’s current three-year loan agreement with the High Museum in Atlanta and a plan for the Georges Pompidou Center to open an annex in Shanghai.Their protest that France was “selling” its museums, chiefly by renting rather than lending artworks, prompted an Internet site (http://www.latribunedelart.com/) to organize the petition endorsing their position. Among those who have signed are numerous current and former directors and curators of leading museums, including the Musée de l’Orangerie, the Musée d’Orsay, the Pompidou and even the Louvre.

One rumor circulating here this week was that Abu Dhabi had refused to display nudes or religious paintings, both pillars of Western art. But according to Le Monde, the draft agreement stated that the new museum could not reject artworks for “unreasonable motives.” Francine Mariani-Ducray, the current director of French museums, also denied that Abu Dhabi had placed restrictions on art lent by France.

Source: The NY Times Art, Spiegel Online Intl

"Nuage de verre" de Louis Vuitton

La Fondation Louis Vuitton, projet présenté le 2 octobre 2006, prendra la forme d’un nuage de verre et s’étendra sur 4.300 mètres carrés.

Le projet sera réalisé dans le Jardin d’Acclimatation, jardin de la Ville de Paris concédé à LVMH (bois de Boulogne). Ce nouvel établissement dédié à l'art et à la création sera ouvert par le groupe LVMH en 2010. Le bâtiment sera conçu par le célèbre architecte Frank Gehry.

L'idée d'une fondation chatouillait les dirigeants de LVMH, Bernard Arnault en tête, depuis une quinzaine d'années. Le bois de Boulogne semblait tout indiqué puisque le leader mondial du luxe y gère le Jardin d'acclimatation. Les conditions n'étaient toutefois pas réunies, jusqu'à ce que, notamment, le bowling ferme et offre l'opportunité d'un terrain disponible.


Le projet de la Fondation Louis Vuitton est construit autour d’une grande ambition. Faire découvrir l’art du XXe et du XXIe siècle mais aussi les grands maîtres du passé au plus large public, à travers des expositions présentant des œuvres significatives. Cette approche sera complétée par d’autres médiations (centre d’étude et de documentation, programmes pédagogiques novateurs) ; une politique originale de commandes aux artistes contribuera à la singularité propre du lieu.

L'histoire de l'évolution du projet, du croquis initial jusqu'à la version finale, sera racontée, notamment en maquettes, lors d'une exposition au pavillon de l'Arsenal au début de l'année prochaine.

Sources: Batiactu.fr, tendancehightech.com, mairie16.paris.fr, Le Figaro

Most impressive scyscraper projects at MIPIM 2007

by materials from www.europe-re.com

Five of the most grandiose skyscraper projects on the international real estate market will be exhibited at MIPIM, to be held in Cannes from 13 to 16 March 2007.

New York

The U.S. World Trade Center Association will showcase the New York Freedom Tower, the highest and most symbolic of the four buildings on the Ground Zero site that are replacing the twin towers destroyed in the 2001 attack. This Statue of Liberty meets the new security requirements introduced by anti-terrorist measures, but still holds its flame to the sky 541 metres, (1,776 feet) above the ground, the latter figure a reference to the year the United States achieved independence. In addition to its size, the architects are celebrating the memory of those who disappeared by a combination of space and light, positioning the buildings around the sites of the former towers so they will be free from any building, and bathed in sunlight every September 11 at the exact time of the attacks.

Dubai

This project will become the tallest tower in the world at between 700 and 800 metres high. The tower's geometry is inspired by the region’s cultural influences, especially the base, which represents the petals of a desert flower.

Moscow

The Russian group Mirax will unveil its ‘Federation Business Complex’ in Moscow’s new business district, breaking a European height record with its 448 metre Federation Tower. Chosen from forty projects submitted by the world’s finest architecture practices, the structure has been designed for both high quality offices and luxury apartments, together with an international hotel, conference rooms, shops, restaurants and local services.

click here to learn more

Warsaw

The Zlota 44 tower, due to become the highest building in Poland at 192 metres, is the architect’s first project in his country of origin, while his prestigious work around the world is already influencing a new generation of architects and decision-makers in urban development. Daniel Libeskind is providing the city centre of the Polish capital with 251 residences of unprecedented luxury.

Paris

The new "Tour Phare" at La Défense shall break Paris height records. The project to be presented at MIPIM 2007 goes well beyond the demands of the EPAD charter for sustainable development, using natural ventilation through the building’s façade, and windmills on the summit.

click here to learn more

Noah's Ark on Svalbard

Dug into a frozen mountainside on the island of Svalbard, it is hoped the project will safeguard crop diversity in the event of a global catastrophe.

More than 100 countries have backed the vault, which will store seeds, packaged in foil, at sub-zero temperatures. Prime Ministers from five nations helped lay the cornerstone on Monday.

Premiers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland attended the ceremony near the town of Longyearbyen, in Norway's remote Svalbard Islands, roughly 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Pole.

Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the Norwegian news agency NTB: "The vault is of international importance. It will be the only one of its kind; all the other gene banks are of a commercial nature."

This is polar bear countryFenced in and guarded, with steel airlock doors, motion detectors and polar bears roaming outside - the concrete facility will, its backers say, be the most secure building of its type in the world. Norway's Agriculture Minister Terje Riis-Johansen has called the vault a "Noah's Ark on Svalbard."

The vault's purpose is to ensure survival of crop diversity in the event of plant epidemics, nuclear war, natural disasters or climate change; and to offer the world a chance to restart growth of food crops that may have been wiped out.

At temperatures of minus 18C (minus 0.4F), the seeds could last hundreds, even thousands, of years. Even if all cooling systems failed, explained Mr Riis-Johansen, the temperature in the frozen mountain would never rise above freezing due to the permafrost on the mountainside.
Ultimate back-up

The Global Crop Diversity Trust, founded in 2004, will help run the vault, which is planned to open and start accepting seeds from around the world in September 2007. The bank is eventually expected to house some three million seeds.

"This facility will provide a practical means to re-establish crops obliterated by major disasters," Cary Fowler, executive secretary of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, said in a statement.
Fowler, who led a feasibility study on the project, said crop diversity was also threatened by "accidents, mismanagement, and short-sighted budget cuts".

Already, some 1,400 seed banks around the world, most of them national, hold samples of a country's crops. But these banks "can be affected by shutdowns, natural disasters, war or simply a lack of money," said Mr Riis-Johansen.

While Norway will own the vault itself, countries sending seeds will own the material they deposit - much as with a bank safe-deposit box. The Global Crop Diversity Trust will help developing countries pay the cost of preparing and sending seeds.

La construction de l' «Arche de Noé» végétale démarrera en mars

Après une première pierre posée en juin 2006, les travaux de construction de l'Arche de Noé végétale, destinée à stocker l'ensemble des variétés de semences végétales existantes, devraient commencer en mars à l'intérieur d'une montagne de l'archipel norvégien du Svalbard, au beau milieu de l'Arctique. La construction de l'entrepôt dont le coût s'élève à trois millions de dollars (2,3 millions d'euros) devrait être achevée en septembre 2007 et le lieu ouvrira vers la fin de l'hiver 2008.

Les plans architecturaux de cet entrepôt semencier, construit sous le permafrost (sol gelé en permanence) ont été dévoilés vendredi. Une porte triangulaire, faite d'acier et de ciment et illuminée par des oeuvres d'art aux couleurs changeantes en fonction de la lumière, constituera l'entrée du lieu, sur le flanc de la montagne. Dans chaque chambre, il y aura des rangées d'étagères métalliques sur lesquelles seront disposées des boîtes en plastique qui à leur tour contiendront les échantillons, rangés dans des emballages de polyéthylène et d'aluminium imperméables, à expliqué l'américain Cary Fowler, «cerveau» qui a conçu la chambre forte et chef du Fonds fiduciaire mondial pour la diversité des cultures. Situé à environ 130 mètres au-dessus du niveau de la mer, l'entrepôt ne sera pas endommagé en cas de fonte des glaces du Groenland entraînant une hausse du niveau de la mer. Certains experts prédisent que l'eau pourrait monter de sept mètres.

d'après Batiactu

New Beijing airport to be world's biggest

The expansion of Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 will increase the airport’s capacity from 27 million to 60 million passengers.

(picture from Foster and Partners website)
The Terminal 3 that is currently under construction covers an area of 1,480 hectares, and is far grander in size and scale than the existing terminals (would become arguably the largest airport terminal building complex built in a single phase with 900,000 m² in total floor area). It will feature a main passenger terminal (Terminal 3A), two satellite concourses (Terminal 3B and Terminal 3C) and five floors above ground and two underground. Upon completion, it is reported that passengers will be able to travel from the entrance of Terminal 3 to the farthest gate in less than 5 minutes.

“Hong Kong airport is currently the biggest of its kind. But that will be eclipsed by Beijing (…) It's the world's largest and most advanced airport building,” says the project's architect, Norman Foster.
With airports at Stansted and Hong Kong already under his belt, he should know better than anyone. “The airport will be the gateway to the city,” says Foster. “It's advanced not only technologically, but also in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and sustainability. It will be welcoming and uplifting, a symbol of place, its soaring aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form will celebrate the thrill and poetry of flight and evoke traditional Chinese colours and symbols.”

In short, the airport is not simply about shifting large numbers of people in and out of the city. Just as important will be its part in the conspicuous assertion of a new kind of China and its modernity. It is one of a dozen huge projects Beijing is building at furious speed to transform the city in time for the Olympic games of 2008.

For China, the Olympics are being used as the chance to make a defiant and unmistakable statement that the country has taken its place in the modern world.
The site works in three shifts, seven days a week. Nothing stops the cranes, the concrete mixers, the welders and the scaffolders. Not even the discovery of fossilised dinosaur bones that turned up in the mud ahead of the bulldozers one day, or a carved ancient stone, saved from the mechanical diggers and re-erected next to a cluster of huts.

The site is still working on the May Day holiday, when the rest of China shuts down for a week. The workers here stop only for the Chinese New Year, when it gets too cold for concrete to set properly. The site comes to a standstill and the armies return to their villages until the thaw comes. During the day they brave the dust storms and the summer heat. At night they work under arc lights. They sleep in ramshackle clusters of huts and green army tents in a series of shanty towns scattered around the site.

More about Kazakhstan and its stunning new constructions: The Pyramid

Lord Foster, 69, has designed some audacious buildings in his time, from the much-loved "Gherkin" tower in London to Beijing's new airport - right now the world's biggest construction site. He has designed - but never built - the world's tallest towers. But nothing he has done to date compares with this latest job. Because nobody asks for buildings like this. Unless you happen to be President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan.

With a massive oil, gas and mineral industry behind him, investors falling over themselves to catch his eye, and not much by way of political opposition, Nazarbayev can build whatever he wants in his showpiece new capital of Astana, being built according to a monumentally axial 1998 Kisho Kurokawa masterplan. And what Nazarbayev wants is religious and ethnic reconciliation.

He also wants an opera house to rival Glyndebourne or Covent Garden, a national museum of culture, a new "university of civilisation", and a centre for Kazakhstan's ethnic and geographical groups. All these will be slotted into Foster's pyramid, which is 203 feet tall and 203 feet square at the base (62m by 62m). The podium will contain an opera house.

So this is not just a talking-shop for clerics. Although with a population split 50:50 between Russian Orthodox and Muslim, and with extremism on the rise all round, you can see why it's on the president's mind. He hosted the first such congress of religious leaders in September 2003, and wants to make it a triennial event.

Made of a diamond-pattern latticework of tubular steel clad in pale silver-grey stone, the pyramid will climax in a great coloured apex of abstract modern stained glass. Bathed in the golden and pale blue glow of the glass (colours taken from the Kazakhstan flag), 200 delegates from the world's main religions will meet every three years in a circular chamber - based on the United Nations Security Council in New York. The chamber is perched high beneath the point of the pyramid on four huge struts intended, says Foster, to "symbolise the hands of peace". A research centre into the world's religions, complete with a large library, occupies the floor below.
For the general public, things are no less spectacular. The pyramid is raised on a low artificial hill - making it even taller - inside which is the 1500-seat opera house. Lifts rising up the inwardly-leaning walls - rather like the legs of the Eiffel Tower - carry you up to a middle level.

At this point more drama begins as you enter what Foster's colleagues calls "the hanging gardens of Astana". The atrium walls suddenly flare outwards, vegetation cascades round on all sides from planters set into the walls. To get up to the unearthly light pouring down from the top of the pyramid, you must walk up zig-zag ramps through these airborne gardens as if ascending to heaven.

Even Foster - not a demonstrative man - can hardly believe he has this job. "A few months ago, this didn't exist," he says as we stand in his Battersea studio in front of a six-foot tall working model of the pyramid. "It's the fastest thing that we've ever done. They've ordered the steel and it starts to be built next month. The scale of what is happening in Astana is incredible." The president works surrounded by models of the new Astana, his personal Brasilia or Canberra. He is pouring billions of dollars into it - despite the reported reluctance of his ministers, and international airlines, to make the move there from the old capital of Almaty near the Chinese border.

The climate is a problem. Temperatures in Astana range from minus 40 Celsius in winter to plus 40 Celsius in the heat of summer. It's not just a matter of insulating the building - it's coping with the yearly expansion and contraction of the huge steel and stone structure. It is being made in prefabricated sections during the winter, to be assembled in summer. Self-supporting as it rises, it will need no temporary props. The project cost is around 30 million dollars.

The project is being managed by a Turkish construction company, Sembol Construction.
Foster chose the pyramid shape because it is has no negative religious connotations. He has designed several concert halls, art galleries and museums, but says this has a greater importance. "It is primarily a cultural centre - but because it will host a peace congress of 18 religions, it becomes something else. It is about religion, peace and co-existence," he says. "It is dedicated to the renunciation of violence and the promotion of faith and human equality."

An indoor city in Astana

The 150m-high (500ft) dome, designed by UK architect Norman Foster, will be built in just over a year. The tent is being made from special material that absorbs sunlight to create the effect of summer inside. Astana lies in the very heart of the Central Asian steppe. Temperatures there often drop to -30C in the winter.

'Difficult project'
The final shape of the world's biggest tent was revealed in a 3D model by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Underneath, in an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be a city with squares and cobbled streets, canals, shopping centres and golf courses.
The idea is to recreate summer, so that when the outside temperature is -30C, the residents of the Kazakh capital can play outdoor tennis, take boat rides or sip coffee on the pavement cafes.
Called Khan Shatyry, the project is designed by Lord Foster, who has recently built a giant glass pyramid in Astana.
"Nothing of the sort has been done before, and from the engineering point of view it's an extremely difficult project," says Fettah Tamince, the head of Turkey's development company Sembol that is building the tent.
Mr Tamince is nevertheless confident the company can complete the construction in just 12 months.

'Huge risk'
It is a hugely ambitious undertaking, but so is Astana itself.
It was just over 10 years ago that President Nazarbayev decided to move the capital from Almaty to the very heart of Kazakhstan.
Since then the government says it has spent $15bn (£7.7bn) on construction, although some believe the figure is actually much higher.
"For this oil rich state, which is an increasingly important global energy player, cash is not a problem.
Still, Mr Nazarbayev recently told the BBC that moving the capital was the riskiest step he had ever taken, and that Astana was one of his biggest achievements.
"It was a huge risk, and I took it intuitively," Mr Nazarbayev said.
I put everything at stake, including my career and my name. I knew if I had failed it would be a fatal failure, but the success would also be the real success."
At the time, the president added, no-one seemed to believe that he would be able to create a real city in the steppe.

Il y a tout ce que vous voulez ... en Chine!

L'inspiration est venue à Wang Zhe lors d'un voyage en France en 2000. Le style «splendide» de Versailles, la «majesté» du Louvre, la «noblesse» de château Lafitte, lui sont apparus comme un concentré de luxe, de raffinement, et surtout de «bon goût». Rentré en république populaire de Chine, ce jeune promoteur immobilier de Pékin, président de Fortune Real Estate, n'avait plus qu'une idée en tête : bâtir un domaine des nouveaux dieux du capitalisme dans la capitale chinoise. Cinq ans ont passé, quatre milliards de yuans (400 millions d'euros) ont coulé dans le béton, et le rêve a pris forme sur une trentaine d'hectares entre le cinquième et le sixième périphérique de Pékin. Son nom ? Le palais de Fortune. Wang, lassé des copies de suburbs américains, le must des riches Pékinois en matière de villas, a voulu faire «entièrement français». Français comme Vuitton ou Chanel, marques les plus copiées en Chine avec Gucci.

Imaginez donc, à terme, un village de 172 châteaux posés dans des jardinets à la française, avec des rues pavées et une place centrale où différents styles d'architecture s'entrechoquent. Porte principale librement inspirée de Versailles, ruines antiques en béton, arcades néoclassiques surmontées d'un clocher un peu gothique : «C'est la copie d'une église française, explique une directrice commerciale, mais cela n'a rien de religieux. Il y aura un centre commercial de luxe à l'intérieur.»

Les châteaux, construits selon les règles du feng shui, se déclinent dans les gammes Versailles, Elysée, Louvre, Lafitte, ou Alsace, et sont vendus 20 millions de yuans (2 millions d'euros) brut de béton. Compter autant pour les aménagements intérieurs. «Nous visons l'élite, explique Wang Zhe, je crois qu'il n'y a pas plus cher en Chine.» Sur les 27 châteaux pour l'instant mis en vente, une douzaine serait déjà partie. Les premiers habitants, «des businessmen», emménageront bientôt.

Le «pavillon» témoin ­ 1 500 m², dont une bonne partie perdue dans un escalier à double volée surmonté d'un dôme de 15 m de haut ­ est du modèle Louvre. «La montée de l'escalier tournant avec le tapis rouge est bouleversante, elle inspire un grand respect chez les invités, un accueil à la fois solennel et orgueilleux», annonce la plaquette publicitaire dorée. C'est plutôt le vertige qu'inspire ce Louvre : lustres de Venise, statues grecques, portraits de conquistadors, canapés Chippendale XXXL, candélabres, lits à baldaquin, piscine, jacuzzi, bar, home-cinéma, cave à vin, salle de sport, garage pour quatre voitures... et une chambre forte construite sur le modèle de la Bank of China, «capable d'accueillir une famille en cas d'attaque nucléaire». Comme dans les meilleures maisons, les domestiques ont droit à des chambres de 8 m² au sous-sol.

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