Design for Despots

Image: Foster & Partners


Foreign Policy ran a brief outline of the more ambitious building projects in some of the world's "least free" countries. (There's an accompanying article, but it's subscriber only.)

Above is the Khan Shatyry Entertainment Center in Astana, Kazakhstan, due to be completed this summer. What you're seeing is a transparent, tent-like exterior meant to absorb sunlight and create summer-like conditions for an “indoor city” within the capital, where residents can gather to swim, golf, and shop during the bitterly cold Kazakh winters.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this structure is going to look like crap after a couple of years.