ASTANA – A State Botanical Garden with a parkland area of 97.5 hectares is one of the facilities to be constructed in the capital for the upcoming EXPO 2017. The garden will be a tourist attraction as well as house a botanical museum and botanical research institutes.
According to the Astana Department of Public Utilities, the garden will be located along Kabanbay Batyr Avenue. The project’s first stage has already been approved by state examiners.
In 2013, the designers developed the project’s documentation and feasibility study. Keremet-Invest is implementing the project, which has as its main architects Italian designer Abellonio Pierandrea and eminent landscape architect Jean Musse. The construction project is overseen by the corporate fund Nurly Astana.
The botanical garden is intended to develop into a leading research, cultural, educational and environmental institution. According to experts, one of the main ideas is to construct eight large greenhouses shaped like hemispheres of different sizes and connected by crosswalks.
The indoor pavilions will have geographical and climatic conditions corresponding to different zones around the globe. Planned pavilions include “South African desert,” “Tropical greenhouse,” “Asian landscape,” “Mediterranean forest,” “Oceania” and “Garden of the Mother Earth.” Gardens representing different countries, including Iran, Spain, China, Japan, England, France, Italy and Egypt are also planned. There will also be gardens featuring perennial and annual plans and stone sculptures as well as a “river” of flowers.
One of the main concepts of the botanical garden is to create a paradise that also saves energy, so the complex will be equipped with the latest technology. Smart facades will help regulate the indoor climate to significantly reduce energy costs and smart trees will accumulate solar energy, which will then be used for lighting at night.
The authors of the project want to make the garden not just a demonstration of plants, but a unique natural recreational complex where the natural environment is in harmony with architectural structures. Restaurants, outdoor cafes and retail outlets are planned to be housed within the complex as well.
At present, the first phase of construction is underway. The Astanazelenstroy company has already planted more than 1,000 trees on the territory of the future garden and performed other landscape work.
