There was symmetry to the moment: I was standing near the towering Baiterek while looking down Nurzhol Blvd. at the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center in the distance. The meanings of the two buildings couldn’t be more different, yet appropriate, for the symbolism they convey about today’s Astana and Kazakhstan.
The Baiterek represents a magical bird of happiness, Samruk, who lays a large golden egg in the branches of a mythical tree of life. The Norman Foster-designed Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, at 150 meters high, the largest tent in the world, is also about happiness of a different kind. The Baiterek represents a foundational myth for Kazakhstan, while the Khan Shatyr building is firmly anchored in the 21st century, even as it is inspired by the nomadic tribes of the Steppes.
This juxtaposition of buildings representing different eras of a nation is true for other successful emerging countries. In Singapore, I stood on the balcony of Singapore’s colonial-era iconic building, the Supreme Court, while taking a photo of its 21st-century one, the Marina Bay Sands. While the Supreme Court stood for rule of law in an unruly part of the world in the 1930s, the triple-towered Marina Bay Sands, designed by Moshe Safdie, with its colossal boat-shaped SkyPark, stands for fun in a country that recognizes the economic value of “the pursuit of happiness.” As beacons drawing attention to their respective messages, they work.
Iconic buildings have been central to humanity since Stonehenge. Norman Foster said, “Since Stonehenge, architects have always been on the cutting edge of technology. And you can’t separate technology from the humanistic and spiritual content of a building.” Architecture has always been about context. “As an architect,” Norman Foster said, “you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future that is essentially unknown.”
Moshe Safdie speaks of buildings on his website as “shaping the public realm.” The purpose of iconic buildings in ancient times was either to foster religion or generate fear and respect for the governing body. Whether it was the Parthenon on the Acropolis or the pyramids of Egypt, rulers created iconic buildings to secure their hold on the populace.
But now it is different. Culture and business, today’s soft power drivers, are the reason these buildings are created. Government involvement is frequently more backseat: from encouraging the development through zoning laws, approvals, or tax and other incentives.
Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao kicked off this wave of iconic buildings as brand beacons. The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, opened in 1998, signaled the emergence of Malaysia as more than a country of rubber and palm oil plantations. Architect Cesar Antonio Pelli said, “I tried to express what I thought were the essences of Malaysia, its richness in culture and extraordinary vision for the future.” And Taipei 101, from 2003 until 2010, the world’s tallest building, reminded people that Taiwan still mattered as a business hub.
Iconic buildings can create a buzz that translates to perceptual and economic benefits. When the Burj-al-Arab opened in 1999, it put Dubai on the map as the ultimate luxury destination. Like Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, it communicated fun in a part of the world that is usually more associated with oil and conflict. The term “seven-star hotel” was invented to describe the hotel. Looking like a gargantuan butterfly chrysalis, it has attracted celebrity guests and incalculable positive PR.
Dubai followed up with the can’t top this Burj-al-Khaifa. As Christopher Davidson, a University of Durham professor, said, “The tower was conceived as a monument to Dubai’s place on the international stage.” The world’s tallest building, it is a litany of superlatives: 828 meters high, 160 floors, world’s fastest elevators at 64 kilometers per hour. It is nearly double the height of the next highest building in Dubai, truly a Great Pyramid of Giza for our time. While its opening in 2010 was colored by the collapse of Dubai’s economy, it has delivered on its promise to transform the city’s image. Scenes from Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible” movie featured the building, creating buzz for Dubai.
Sister Gulf State, Qatar, has the iconic Museum of Islamic Art, which opened in 2008. The I.M. Pei-designed building showcases a stunning collection of Islamic Art to remind the international community of the richness — not just riches – of the Arab world. Like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, it’s a transformative, culturally oriented building, making Doha a destination in its own right. Perched pyramid-like on the edge of Doha Bay, it is a visual anchor of the city.
And of course, China has many iconic buildings to flesh out its cutting-edge 21st-century image. I remember standing on the Oriental Pearl building in Shanghai, that 1990s Flash Gordon-inspired image of the future with its spheres and pointy spire, and looking down on the iconic buildings of the 1920s on the Bund with their colonial-era stolidness, projecting wealth and power with fluted columns and granite. And I looked up at the Shanghai World Financial Center building, opened in 2008, that at one angle looks like a giant bottle opener overshadowing the nearby Jin Miao tower. Shanghai seeks to emulate and overtake both New York and Hong Kong as a city of iconic buildings.
When will this latest wave of building competition end? Not anytime soon. The recent opening of the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA in Los Angeles by architect Peter Zumthor and the September opening in LA of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, by Beijing-based MAD Architects, will showcase a post-fire revitalized Los Angeles ready to welcome the global FIFA and Olympics events.
If you want to understand the power of iconic buildings to attract attention to a city and nation, trying to compete in this globalized economy, then think of the cities that don’t have them. Mumbai perhaps. Or Jakarta. Or Manila. You’ll discover that the negative clichés about these metropolises tend to define them. In a world where a positive image translates to economic advantage, iconic buildings give just that more of a winning edge. You only need to take another look at some of Astana’s striking structures: Baiterek, Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, Nur Alem, National Archives of Kazakhstan, and Atyrau Bridge. As British archaeologist, Jacquetta Hawkes, said, “every generation gets the Stonehenge it deserves – and desires.”
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