Kazakhstan Pyramid

[Bryson]

The Sunday Times had an interesting article about a new building, incorporating an Opera House, about to be built in Kazakhstan - Designed by Lord Norman Foster, it takes the form of a gigantic pyramid of glass and granite, but the bit that interested me was this:

For the public, things are no less spectacular. Inside the hill at the base is the 1,500-seat opera house. The auditorium has a circular glass ceiling set in the floor of the pyramid’s gargantuan central atrium. From the floor of the sunken opera house to the peak of the pyramid is nearly 250ft. Lifts rising up the inward-leaning walls — rather like the legs of the Eiffel Tower — carry you up to a middle level.

(My Emphasis)

 

Wont that let an awful lot of light in...? Is this a triumph of arcitectural gimmickry over practical function?

 

Opinions please

 

Full article (sadly missing the diagram that was in the paper) here.

[TallPaul]

Presumably with that size of budget, they can afford to have the sun switched off during shows...

[Mr.Si]

Sounds er, interesting!

 

I'm intruiged to know what the acoustics of such a building will be like!

 

Sounds rather reflective with all that glass!

Plus, there will def be some "sweet spots" due to the focussing from the angled walls of glass.

 

Or was it that the opera house is a room within this building?

[Guest lightnix]

It still amazes me that people still manage to totally screw up on the practical basics of venue design sometimes, but I suppose that's what happens when you get in a big name architect, rather than somebody with relevant experience.

 

Maybe slightly OT, but another case in point is the Amsterdam Arena (home of Ajax FC). Although primarily a stadium, it was intended as a multi-purpose venue and yet, they somehow managed to provide it with only two, small passenger lifts. There is no Goods lift, meaning that if you want to set up your control position in the seated area, everything has to be craned or motored up. And then there's the followspots to think of (except that nobody ever did). In the planning stages, a major concert promoter (Mojo ?) offered their services as consultants, but were roundly told that their input was not required, thank you very much.

 

And yes, it has a glass roof, too. Not only does it make daytime focussing a nightmare, but when I was there (around 1997), it didn't allow enough light onto the pitch for the grass to survive. I think it had been open less than 18 months at that time and I was told that they were already on their fifth pitch.

[Mr.Si]

Just shows that building design right from the start is so so so important!

 

I go to quite a lot of building sites and some of the structural work is really scarily skimped!

 

Just what do architects learn?!

 

There are schools which have been really poorly designed too - prob by the same guy - fully open plan, no speech privacy, plus it was like, all classrooms on two floors opened out into the middle courtyard which was a CDT workshop!

 

What were they on?! - "it's a whole new level in school design" - whatever mate.

 

That Amsterdam one sounds like a nightmare come true!