Orynbor Astana Arch
The multifunctional residential complex with built-in facilities and parking on Orynbor Street was to be located in a prime location of Astana City. It was to be the new entrance to Astana, connecting the airport to the city centre, passing by some of the most iconic buildings and monuments of the capital of Kazakhstan; it was also to be one of the entrances to the Expo 2017. This multifuncional complex established a very strong relationship with the surroundings, based on urban symmetry, and as an urban gateway to the City but also as a symbolic entrance to this important axis of expansion and affirmation of Astana.

It was in this perspective that this intervention was approached, as a very straightforward appeal to modernity and a statement of contemporary architecture in complete harmony with the huge level of development the City was experiencing. The urban design proposed following to a linear structure established by the Astana Master Plan. The surface area reserved for building was to have a gross area above ground of 353,805 sq.m, to be divided into 3 groups of buildings, corresponding to four building areas on four different platforms. In each area to be built, it was possible to distinguish two different architectural moments that coexist and complement each other as far as the definition and emphasis of the “gateway” was concerned.
The base (on the street level) was to be occupied by shopping spaces along Orynbor Street but also the main entrance area and lobbies of the residential blocks. The remaining area in this base was to be taken up by parking spaces. The residential areas were distributed over the following typologies: studios, one-bedroom, and two- and three-bedroom apartments. The materiality of the external areas (the “skin” of the buildings) was based on criteria of low maintenance and longevity, together with the highest architectural quality and urban value, where the external finishing in the form of a glass curtain wall façade with a reflective nature on the top floors was chosen in order to give the building more lightness and a metallic structure.