This story appeared already some time ago in British papers, but I thought it would be interesting: British star architect Norman Foster, who designed quite a handful of the world’s most famous landmarks, will be applying his skills in Kazakhstan, according to the PR Newswire:

Called the Palace of Peace and Accord, architect Norman Foster’s pyramidal masterpiece will grace the urban landscape of Kazakhstan’s capital city, Astana as a global centre for religious understanding, renunciation of violence and the promotion of faith and human equality.

The Palace of Peace and Accord - that sounds rather reminiscent of this man (who commissioned the ‘Arch of Neutrality‘).

A little search on Foster’s website brings us to this staggering draft:

In addition to representing all the world’s religious faiths, the Palace houses a 1,500- seat opera house, a university of civilisation, and a national centre for Kazakhstan’s various ethnic and geographical groups. This programmatic diversity is unified within the pure form of a pyramid, 62 metres high with a 62 x 62-metre base. Clad in stone, with glazed inserts that allude to the various internal functions, the pyramid has an apex of stained glass by the artist Brian Clarke.

I guess this building will cost some $??? million.

Its cost is guarded as a state secret. Were it built in the UK, it would run into hundreds of millions of pounds.

What a sad waste of money.

There is much more here.

From the floor of the sunken opera house to the peak of the pyramid is nearly 250 feet. 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. Blimey.

Full image here.