Central Concert Hall

The Concert Hall is a center for performing arts in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. It was inaugurated by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev on the nation’s Independence Day, the 15th of December 2009. The Astana State Auditorium lies on the south of a historic organizational axis leading to the Presidential Palace with the Senate House opposite to the auditorium. The form of the building was generated from an analysis of a native flower. The music which the building envelopes, reflects in the dynamic form and colour of the envelope. The built form, envisioned as a “Flower of the Steppe” contains a system of plazas housing shops, balconies, restaurants, two cinemas and Auditorium Concert Hall. The hall is a wood clad shell from within and outside seated deep within the swirling envelope of the building. This womb-like space symbolises a native Kazakh musical instrument ‘Dombra’. The multileveled plazas within the building integrate with the system of plazas on either side of the central axis.

The concrete frame of the envelope is clad with glass to protect the inside from harsh extremities of the climate of Astana while reflecting the changing landscape. The building’s shape evokes the dynamism of a flower’s petals as a metaphor for the dynamism of music itself. The building’s external structure comprises a series of curved inclined walls made of concrete with a blue back painted glass panels cladding. Those structures protect the building’s interior functions from Astana’s harsh weather conditions. The building features a thirty-meter-high foyer which extends over 3.000 square meters, which is intended to create an urban-scale internal public square that could welcome the citizens of Astana throughout the entire year.

Total area 55,000 sqm
3,500 Spectators