Khan Shatyr–the World’s Tallest Tent in Kazakhstan
Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center in Astana, the capital city
of Kazakhstan, is an architectural project that is billed as the world’s
largest tent. The “tent” is made of a transparent material and
suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire 150 meters
high. The structure has a 200 meter elliptical base enclosing an area of
140,000 square metres. Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10
football stadiums, is an urban-scale internal park, shopping and
entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river,
shopping centre, mini golf and indoor beach resort. The transparent
material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with air heating
and cooling systems, maintains a comfortable internal temperature
between 15–30 °C while outside the temperature varies between -35 and 35
°C across the year. To prevent condensation in the winter,
three translucent layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene fabric or EFTE
act to channel warm air. In summer, fritting on the outermost foil layer
provides solar shading. Inside, low-level jets direct cool air across
the space, while opening vents at the apex induce stack-effect
ventilation. The transparency and scale of the tent stands out in the
skyline like a beacon, changing colors at night and streaming in natural
light during the day.
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Inaugurated in 2010 by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Khan Shatyr was described as “the latest vanity project” of Kazakhstan's increasingly autocratic president by The Guardian.
Nazarbayev moved Kazakhstan's capital to the isolated northern city from Almaty in 1998 and renamed it Astana, which means, literally, "capital". On the tenth anniversary of the move, Nazarbayev signed a decree declaring 6 July – which happens to be his birthday – Astana Day. The name “Khan Shatyr” itself roughly translates as 'the tent of the khan, or king”.
Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan with an iron fist since it gained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. His current presidential term expires in 2012, but under legal changes approved by parliament in 2007, he is allowed to serve as president indefinitely.
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Inaugurated in 2010 by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Khan Shatyr was described as “the latest vanity project” of Kazakhstan's increasingly autocratic president by The Guardian.
Nazarbayev moved Kazakhstan's capital to the isolated northern city from Almaty in 1998 and renamed it Astana, which means, literally, "capital". On the tenth anniversary of the move, Nazarbayev signed a decree declaring 6 July – which happens to be his birthday – Astana Day. The name “Khan Shatyr” itself roughly translates as 'the tent of the khan, or king”.
Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan with an iron fist since it gained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. His current presidential term expires in 2012, but under legal changes approved by parliament in 2007, he is allowed to serve as president indefinitely.
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