Architecture of Post-Soviet Kazakhstan: Key Stylistic References in Public Facilities

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the question of stylistic directions in the development of architecture in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The construction boom that marked the great restructuring of the entire cultural paradigm of the country after the collapse of the Soviet empire is expressed in the stylistic diversity of architecture of the present time. The article notes that at the foundation for the context of the current urbanization of the steppe region lies a reimagining of both Kazakhstan's own cultural heritage and all architectural currents of the 20th and 21st centuries. The study identifies the most popular stylistic references in the artistic and visual architectural solutions in the country's major cities. Particular attention is paid to the balance between neoclassicism, modernism, and postmodernism in the characteristic of the general field of transformations of the urban environment. The role of new technologies in the development of modern architectural plasticity and the overall artistic language of architecture in present-day Kazakhstan is analyzed. It is argued that all its apparent diversity comes as a result of the influence of contemporary global architectural practice.