Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre
Astana, Kazakhstan, 2006-2008
Foster + Partners
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The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre is a major new civic, cultural and social venue for the people of Astana, Kazakhstan. The building allows for a wide range of activities within a sheltered climatic enclosure that provides a comfortable environment all year round. Temperatures in Astana can drop to -35 degrees Celsius in winter and climb as high as +35 degrees in summer. The cable-net structure is located at the northern end of the new city axis and rises to 150 metres to form the highest peak on the Astana skyline. The three-layer ETFE envelope is designed to shelter the enclosed accommodation from weather extremes and to allow daylight to wash the interiors. The building encloses an area in excess of 100,000 square metres within the dome. A viewing platform at the top of the structural mast has dramatic views over the city and the Steppes beyond. In this project I worked closely with the project team from design concept through construction documentation. I used parametric design tools to generate many different enclosure forms. I wrote a computer program to simulate the structural forces of the cable net structure and generate the different form options.
Image Source: Foster + Partners
This was the first project in the Foster + Partners office to extensively use the 3D printer. With this project I introduced the potential of using the rapid prototyping machine as a design tool. As the forms were very complex with many thousands of elements, they could not be physically modelled with ease. However, with the custom written computer programs that I wrote it was easy to output the data from the CAD software to the rapid prototyping machine. Often, I would produce three or four design options during the day, print overnight, and take them out of the printer in the morning. These models became sketch models and were present at all meetings.
Image Source: Foster + Partners
I produced the geometry set out of the base building as well as the cable net structure. Under the ETFE cable net enclosure is a three storey base building which houses an urban-scaled park, with entertainment, retail, leisure facilities, and flexible spaces that can accommodate a variety of events and exhibitions. The geometry of this structure was developed in parallel with the cable net structure. It was ultimately rationalized to a series of four concentric arcs that step up in elevation in a linear fashion. This allowed for simple site set out and construction strategy.