World's Tallest Tensile Structure Completed

Collaborating with Linea Tusavul Architecture and Gultekin Architecture, Foster + Partners have completed the world's tallest tensile structure. The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre in Astana, Kazakhstan reaches 150 meters high, and has an elliptical base that covers 140,000 square meters - larger than 10 football stadiums. It opened yesterday, July 5th, in honor of the 70th birthday of Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The roof is constructed of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) which is suspended from the central spire by a network of cables. The Centre is designed to become "a dramatic civic focal point for the capital of Kazakhstan," according to Foster + Partners, and will include retail, cafes and restaurants, entertainment venues, flexible-use spaces, terraced parks and a water park.