The Architects' Dream: Building Astana

As late as 1991, Kazakhstan's modern capital was little more than a dot on the frozen wastelands of the country's northern steppe. In just two decades, however, Astana has exploded out of the earth into a political playground, financial hub and veritable architects' dream. Unrestrained by lack of space, money or ambition, the blank canvas of Astana's skyline has been transformed with imaginative design. Home-grown talent battles for attention among international heavy-weights, and even the global recession has scarcely slowed Astana's expansion.

As yet largely undiscovered by international tourists, the majority of visitors to Astana are business travellers drawn by Kazakhstan's vast oil and gas resources. For those with the time and inclination to step outside the city's numerous 5* hotels, however, Astana is a vibrant city that encapsulates President Nazarbayev's vision for a modern, high-profile and evidently wealthy Kazakhstan.   

The newest kid on the architectural block is the Khan Shatyry (the "Royal Marquee"), the world's largest tent. Inspired by Kazakhtsan's nomadic past, Foster and Partners have designed a tent 150 m tall with a floor area equivalent to 10 football pitches. If the idea of boating in a gondola, playing golf indoors, or relaxing on a beach some 5000 km from the sea appeals, this is the place to come. Almost as impressive as the structure and its contents is the innovative temperature control system which ensures the air remains a balmy 20 degrees Celsius even whilst outside temperatures swing from -35 in winter to +35 in summer. The central atrium has hosted concerts by the likes of Andrea Bocelli, and the performance space is used on a regular basis by circus groups, dance troupes and bands. 

Foster's other contribution to Astana's skyline is the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. This pyramid-shaped structure, comprised of tessellating triangles of granite and stained glass, was built to host a triennial conference of world religions, and its shape was chosen as it was not associated with any one of the religious groups represented. The main conference chamber is upheld by four huge struts, which Foster claims symbolise the hands of peace. The palace also houses a 1,500-seat opera house, educational facilities, and the national centre for information about Kazakhstan's many ethnic groups.

Two thirds of Kazakhstan's population are officially Muslim and so it is fitting that the Nur Astana Mosque should be among the city's most iconic buildings. A gift from the Emir of Qatar and the output of a Lebanese architect, the Nur Astana is one of 1700 mosques built in Kazakhstan since independence: the religion is experiencing a remarkable renaissance after years of being outlawed under Communism. Each of the 63 m high minarets (symbolic as the Prophet was 63 when he died) is constructed from white marble and surrounds a golden dome, in stark contrast to the muted, pastel interior painted by Kazakh artists before the mosque's official opening in 2008.   

The growth of Astana has been integrally linked with the power of Nazarbayev, and as he enters his eighth decade and the city also comes to maturity, it will be interesting to see if Kazakhstan's first President has one last architectural swansong up his sleeve.  The architectural legacy he leaves behind is, in any case, a legacy befitting of a man whose own ascendancy cannot be separated out from the birth and emergence on the international scene of the country and capital he built.

HOLIDAY READING

Aitken, J. Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan: From Communism to Capitalism

Brummell, P. Kazakhstan

Omrani, B. Asia Overland: Tales of Travel on the Trans-Siberian and Silk Road

Robbins, C. In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared

Touchdown: Almaty

Plane journeys in Central Asia are always sociable affairs: perhaps it is the fear of impending doom that draws the passengers together. That said, today's flight was, from a safety perspective at least, unremarkable. No one (not even the airhostesses) was smoking in the toilets and, as far as I could see and hear, no part of the plane fell off and on to the runway during takeoff. I would like to say this is indicative of the regional airlines' progress in matters of safety and customer service but, sadly, that would be an exaggeration. Air Astana remains the only Central Asian airline with a sufficient safety record to be allowed to fly in European airspace, and this monopoly is unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
I have travelled to Kazakhstan many times over the last few years but, bar one too-brief visit, I'm yet to explore the nation's economic and cultural capital as I would like. The city is, more often than not, imply somewhere to change planes en-route to somewhere more remote; such hasty visits cannot do it justice.
What strikes you first about Almaty is its superb location. Soaring, snow-capped peaks hold the city in their embrace; even as I write in late August the snow and ice continue to glisten, sparkling in the warm, bright sunshine.
Situated on the historic Silk Road, close to the borders of modern-day China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Almaty is inevitably a cultural melting pot and a trading and transport hub. Whilst the USSR held sway across the region, Almaty was the perfect site for a regional capital and thrived; after independence, however, proximity to other countries (especially China) was feared to be a double-edged sword and the government shifted north to the new city of Astana.
The political exodus has, fortunately, done little to harm Almaty's vibrancy. Many companies, embassies and educational institutions continue to have their headquarters there, and the temperate climate makes it a more pleasant place to live and work.

Bradt Guide to Kazakhstan: The Final Part

Producing a new edition of a guidebook happens in seemingly 101 stages, many of which had not even occurred to me. Since October last year, Max and I (with a little help from our Russian-speaking friends) have been updating Bradt's travel guides to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan so that 2nd editions of each book can be published in November this year. Kazakhstan is the first to go to press and so the first edition we've seen through from start to finish.
Paul Brummell, Britain's former Ambassador to Kazakhstan, wrote Bradt's original guide to Kazakhstan in 2008. It is a hefty tome (not surprisingly given that Kazakhstan is the same size as western Europe) and densely filled with detail, but Brummell's writing style is fluid and entertaining. The historical and cultural stories, as well as Brummell's own anecdotes of his travels, make for a pleasurable read.
The downside of so much detail is that when it comes to updating the book there are literally thousands of facts to check. Every bus station, hotel, shopping mall and travel agent needs to be called, not to mention the endless museums, cafes and nightclubs. Not all of these companies have phones, and those that do have often changed their numbers or simply gone out of business. During this research stage you feel as much like Sherlock Holmes or a character in CSI as a writer.
In some cases there is no alternative but to turn up on the doorstep to find out if XYZ still exists. This is particularly useful with hotels and restaurants as you can do a quality check at the same time. Pitching up in town is also advantageous as you can check out any new places that have sprung up since the previous edition was published: restaurants, cafes and bars in particular seem to pop up and down like rabbits in a burrow.
Once the facts are checked and organised (we write the info up into Excel so it is all in one place), it's time to edit the original manuscript. Fortunately these days everything is digital, which speeds this part of the process up no end. We remove everything that has gone, change what needs to be changed, and add in the new entries. In the case of the Kazakhstan guide there was also some entirely new content: new sections on education and photography, a map of Turkestan, and added info on driving into/out of and across Kazakhstan.The manuscript is edited as a Word file, and all the changes are tracked so the project manager can see what's going on.
When we sent off the manuscript , we breathed a huge sigh of relief: the heavy lift on the edition was done. The project manager checks the manuscript, emails over any questions or other matters raised during the proof reading for correction, and we respond by email. That's all pretty straight forward, and the book can then be typeset. The difficult bits come next.
Maps. Every decent size town mentioned in the Kazakh guide has a map which, as well as giving the major street names, shows the location of every company and site mentioned in the guide. Removing defunct companies from the map is relatively straightforward: you just cross them off. Adding new sites in is a little more problematic. In some respects, the Soviet Union was great at cartography. The topographical maps produced, and those showing mineral deposits, are exceptionally detailed and still great resources today. Sadly, this attention to detail doesn't continue to town plans. Buildings are often not actually located on the street mentioned in their address, and its common for more than one name (usually Soviet and post-Soviet choices) to refer to the same physical street. Plotting an address accurately on a map without out actually walking the street is nigh on impossible, and Google Maps only goes part of the way to clarifying the issue.
Armed with different colour biros, Tipex and multiple copies of the same maps, we slowly plotted, checked, re-plotted and re-checked the position of every new site. It was painstaking. Our humble drawings, hopefully sufficiently clear in their final draft, were dispatched to Bradt's cartographer to be rendered in their house style. We await the final result.
 Although companies cannot pay for inclusion in the core text of Bradt's travel guides, and certainly cannot pay for a more favourable review, there are a few pages at the end of each guide given over to paid advertisers. This is usually a national airline and one or two high-end hotels that are looking to increase their exposure to potential customers. We made ourselves a 'hit-list' of potential advertisers and, via phone, email, fax and, on occasions, meetings in person, attempted to reel them in. Now I know we are in a recession, but there are a limited number of places where you can actually advertise companies in Kazakhstan, and the advertising rates are minute compared to those in magazines. The level of lethargy we met with was outstanding, and even once companies had decided to advertise, getting them to hand over their artwork at the correct spec was like pulling teeth. Fortunately Max had rather more patience in this area than I did.
The final job on the update list (with the exception of choosing pictures) was to take the final, type-set PDF of the text and to cross-reference and index the text. Even with the invaluable 'Find' option in Word and Adobe, this tasks seems to take forever, not helped by the fact it is incredibly dull. It is not enough simply to list in the index every occurrence of the name "Dostoevsky" or the town "Aktobe": the vast majority of the listings are simply street names or throw-away references. It is necessary to trawl through each of these individually, pulling out for the index only those which add to the reader's understanding of the topic or enable them to find a specific piece of information. Even with Amy Winehouse blaring in the background, the task is mind-numbing.
Our tasks complete, Bradt is doing their final checks and assembling the colour photos that are one of the most popular highlights in any guidebook. Humans are very visual creatures and, no matter how eloquent the prose, a good selection of pictures will always swing your choice of where to go. We're excited to see the finished product but, like readers everywhere, will be waiting until Nov. 20th to see our book in print.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kazakhstan-Bradt-Travel-Guides-Brummell/dp/1841623695/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311685580&sr=8-2