Khan Shatyr: World's Largest Tent In Astana, Kazakhstan (PHOTOS)

From Inhabitat.com:

The world's biggest tensile structure, the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, opened in Astana, Kazakhstan earlier this month to a lot of fanfare.  This Norman Foster designed structure is not only the largest tent in the world -- but has plenty of impressive green features from copious natural daylighting to interior gardens and living systems.  Measuring 150 meters tall with a 200 meter radius and 100,000 square meters contained within the translucent canopy, this is one of the most visually striking projects we've seen this year. Read on to see Inhabitat's exclusive photos of the world's biggest tent.

1 of 21

1 of 22

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Developed by Foster + Partners to be a center piece for the new capital city of Astana, Kazakhstan, the project had to withstand the extreme temperature swings of the elevated and arid region. Although the outside temperature varies from -35 degrees to +35 degrees Celsius, the interior maintains a hospitable 15-30 degrees. To prevent condensation in the winter, three translucent layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene fabric or EFTE act to channel warm air. In the summer, cooler air displaces the hot air vented from the top. 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.

Sharks!

Hybrid Cars

Texas Tornadoes 5/15/2013

May 2013 Central U.S. Tornadoes (GRAPHIC IMAGES)

What Climate Change Just Might Ruin

Awesome Animal Photos Of 2013

Developed by Foster + Partners to be a center piece for the new capital city of Astana, Kazakhstan, the project had to withstand the extreme temperature swings of the elevated and arid region. Although the outside temperature varies from -35 degrees to +35 degrees Celsius, the interior maintains a hospitable 15-30 degrees. To prevent condensation in the winter, three translucent layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene fabric or EFTE act to channel warm air. In the summer, cooler air displaces the hot air vented from the top. 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.

comments(54)

Total comments: 54 | Post a Comment

1 of 22

This Photo

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Decent Stunning

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 Khan Shatyr Photos

loading...

Top 5 Khan Shatyr Photos

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[LMPE]

09:07 PM on 08/02/2010

Tent funny, McGee.

[Razzer]

03:32 PM on 07/31/2010

This Mall of America-style tent absolutely puts my 'yurt' to shame.

[joetherealist]

05:05 PM on 07/30/2010

Giant Tent for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Me likey.

[SilentSolidarity]

04:50 PM on 07/30/2010

Why is nobody HERE coming up with those ideas? Everything in this country looks like a box. Either small or big. The terms "city planning" and "quality of living" are nothing more but words in a dictionary. How is it possible that corrupt, authoritarian countries get stuff like this done, while we, the oldest constitutional democracy on earth, spend more money on wars than all countries combined??

[forestnfama]

01:45 PM on 07/31/2010

Have you ever tried to build with adobe blocks...........building anything outside of the building codes are almost impossible to get a permit. These little nazies reign control like they owned the world. Bureaucracy with holding....

[SilentSolidarity]

01:29 AM on 08/01/2010

True. Something like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai would be impossible here. Someone told me that his friend was in Shanghai. He said it looks like the year 3000. It's still a mistery to me how a newly-industrialized country has more beautiful cities than the "superpower."

[only livin boy in NY]

07:35 AM on 07/30/2010

thought they meant the 1 in my pants when i'm watching

-------

[maverick77]

06:32 AM on 07/30/2010

Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.

[pattypooh]

05:27 AM on 07/30/2010

I lived in Kazakhstan for 9 years and saw many changes during that time. The transition from a communist economy to a capitalist economy has not been easy, but it has been accomplished in spite of all the corruption. This tent is a perfect example of what can happen when unlimited funds are coupled with terrible taste. The people of Kazakhstan have many, many more practical needs yet the leader wants to waste money building something that isn't even worthy of all the hoopla. The roads are awful, as is the medical care. The housing is exorbitantly expensive for normal people and education is so inadequate with no appreciable technology used. In many parts of the country basic utilities are erratic if even available. What a waste. I have seen the city but not since the tent was built. I love Kazakhstan and it grieves me to see so many resources devoted to this city. Astana would have evolved into a beautiful place over time in spite of the mosquitoes, blizzards, and hot winds.

[Frog of War]

09:44 AM on 07/30/2010

tension fabric structures are not cheap, nor easy to maintain. Your commentary is spot on. Many Central Asian countries has done this sort of thing and mostly for show.

[Cleo Creech]

04:15 AM on 07/30/2010

Not sure I buy the largest tent/tensile roof claim. Even here in Atlanta, we have the Georgia dome which was built for the Olympics with what is supposed to be the largest tensile/cable supported fabric roof of any stadium in the US, it covers about 9 acres. Then you have that granddaddy of all tensile tents - the Millenium Dome in London, that covers something like 20 acres. I'm not sure what they're basing this largest tent claim on?

[Frog of War]

11:03 AM on 07/30/2010

This thing is quite large. By my calculations, this structure has a surface area of nearly 283,000 square meters - tha'ts almost 70 acres of surface area (not to be confused with the flat surface area beneath that is covers - that's over 31 acrea or thereabouts). By contrast, the London structure has a surface area of just under 60,000 square meters or roughly 15 acres (covering a flat surface area of roughly 25 acres). So in regards to flat surface areas, they are not too far off but the added surface area of the conical shape of the Kazakhstan structure vs the spherical conical shape makes a huges difference. The geometry is quite simple, but yet deceiving. The cone beats the sphere. The London structure is a mere pimple in comparison. The Kazakhstan structure is 150 meters tall (roughly a football field and a half) vs the London structure at just 52 meters tall. The Kazakhstan structure has a radius of 200 meters where as London's is just 182.5 meters. Not sure if this makes it the world's largest but it's definitely up there. And yes, I am a confirmed geek and proud engineer by trade! A logical liberal :-)

[Frog of War]

11:25 AM on 07/30/2010

Oops, meant to say the spherical dome shape in the case of London ... not conical.

[rainkitty]

02:45 AM on 07/30/2010

I love this thing. Humans are so creative. Imagine all that we could do in the U.S. without corruption!

[Frog of War]

11:10 AM on 07/30/2010

Ever been to Kazakhstan? Have you missed all the beautiful engineering wonders here in the US? The US is nowhere near as corrupt and any number of Central Asian countries or most of the rest of the world (and I've visited most of them). We're not perfect but we have something they don't - hope and the ability to change our future through democratic elections. We'll make you the "sunshine kitty" instead of the "rainkitty" :-). Just hang out with the liberal Frog :-)

[rainkitty]

01:20 PM on 07/30/2010

I believe we have the ability to outshine the rest of the world but we're too busy fighting.

[Sight Wire]

09:31 PM on 07/29/2010

Beautiful how most of the rest of the world is building and strengthening their infrastructure and in America we are running around with politicians trying to destroy each other and destroying the country in the process.

[Tom95134]

10:51 PM on 07/29/2010

Yeah, but in Kazakhstan you can build something like this for 1/3rd the cost because the the very people that work their butts off building it can't afford to eat in any of the restaurants or shop in any of the stores. But we shouldn't feel bad. If the conservatives have their way we will be in a similar situation in about another 20 years..

[SickHippie]

04:43 AM on 07/30/2010

We're already that way now - credit cards make us all think we're not.

[Frog of War]

11:13 AM on 07/30/2010

Most of the folks who built it were probably imported labor - common in Cenral Asia and the Middle East. The architect was according to the write up above. At least in the US we can't export construction jobs (though we can import cheap Mexican/Central Asian labor). And it's not just conservatives doing this to us. Sometimes we liberals are our own worst enemies ...

[pattypooh]

05:28 AM on 07/30/2010

Do you know what the word "infrastructure" means? This tent is not that.

[Frog of War]

11:16 AM on 07/30/2010

Correct. This is a typical Central Asian government's ego trip.

[Henny Bogan]

08:31 PM on 07/29/2010

I can pitch a tent bigger than that.

[ResearchtheFacts]

08:04 PM on 07/29/2010

The architecture is beautiful. An incredible piece of functional art.

[Frog of War]

11:18 AM on 07/30/2010

It is beautiful, but tension fabric structures are not easy to maintain and the claims of being green are sometimes overblown.

[henrydeluxe]

03:46 PM on 07/29/2010

my tent is bigger than your tent?

[Telemachus]

02:00 PM on 07/29/2010

The Kazakh shopping experience is truly intense ... um, in tents ...

[disprovit]

01:16 PM on 07/29/2010

Is it cheaper to build a tent as oppose to a building?

[pattypooh]

05:31 AM on 07/30/2010

Money is not a problem in Kazakshtan. In fact, it seems to me, after living there for 9 years, that they share the "more you spend the better" philosophy. Sometimes I wanted to tell some of my acquaintances to just wear the price tags so everyone would know how much they spend on their stuff.

[Frog of War]

11:19 AM on 07/30/2010

Exactly. Central Asian countries are notorious for this. Especially after getting out from under Soviet rule. This was an ego trip, not a good investment.

[Frog of War]

11:20 AM on 07/30/2010

In some cases, yes. But the longer term maintenance will be expensive and requires technical expertise not resident in Kazakhstan