Architects have a thing for strong men, and the big global practices – from Norman Foster to Zaha Hadid – have piled in in a bid to help Kazakhstan’s dictator, Nursultan Nazarbayev, build himself a trophy city — The Guardian
Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright reports from the Astana World Expo grounds as part of the paper's fascinating new series, Secret Stans, which offers a glimpse into the cities of the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
In his piece, Wainwright minces no words and describes the collection of petrodollar-funded starchitecture that Kazakhstan’s lone ruler, Nursultan Nazarbayev, enabled to grow from the Eurasian steppe as a "row of awards in a particularly gaudy trophy cabinet," and also questions the 'regime-enforcing' integrity of well known international architects who agreed to build it.
4 Comments
" Newspapers are shut down, critics locked up and protesters tortured, but just look at that parametric blob."
Sums up starchitects perfectly.
is this different from dubai, abu-dahbi, oman? why are they mocking this?
or Rome, Paris, Beijing, Moscow, Pyongyang, Berlin...
Read a history book, for Pete's sake.
who is pete?
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