Palace of Peace and Reconciliation

In September 2003, Kazakhstan - the largest of the former Soviet Republics - hosted the inaugural Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the new capital, Astana. Spurred by its success, the President of Kazakhstan decided to make it a triennial event. Following an international competition, the practice was commissioned to design a permanent venue for the Congress - the Palace of Peace. The building is conceived as a global centre for religious understanding, the renunciation of violence and the promotion of faith and human equality.

In addition to representing all the worlds religious faiths, the Palace houses a 1,500- seat opera house, a university of civilisation, and a national centre for Kazakhstans 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. Spatially, it is organised around a soaring central atrium, which is animated with spectacular cast light patterns. The assembly chamber is elevated at the top, supported on four inclined pillars - the hands of peace. Lifts rise up the inward leaning walls to take delegates to a reception space lined with vegetation the hanging gardens of Astana - from where they ascend to the chamber via a winding ramp. A broad glass lens set in the floor of the atrium casts light down into the auditorium of the opera house and creates a sense of vertical continuity from the lowest level of the building to the very top.

The Astanian climate posed a significant challenge, with an annual range from 40c in summer to -40c in winter. The construction schedule is extraordinarily rapid - the Palace is to be completed in time for the Meeting of the Second Congress in 2006. This led the design team to develop a structural solution that utilises prefabricated components, which can be manufactured off site during the winter months and erected during the summer. The entire process, from briefing to completion will have taken just twenty-one months.

Client: Sembol Construction
Consultants: Buro Happold (London), Arce (Istanbul), GN Engineering & HB Technik (Istanbul), DS Mimarlik, Studio Dinnebier (Berlin), Brian Clarke, Karina Fire Consultants (Ankara), Sound Space Design