Nur Alem – Museum of Future Energy
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture · Astana, Kazakhstan · 2017
Nur Alem was created as Kazakhstan’s national pavilion and the architectural centerpiece of Expo 2017. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill designed a near-spherical glazed building containing eight stacked exhibition levels devoted to different forms of energy. The sphere is supported and serviced by a more conventional base, while interior ramps, galleries and suspended elements turn the building into a vertical museum sequence. Retained after the exposition as the Museum of Future Energy, Nur Alem remains one of Astana’s most ambitious contemporary buildings and a rare large-scale example of an almost fully spherical occupied structure.