Astana’s skyline is defined by objects.
This museum is conceived as one of them: a calm, geometric figure made from a sequence of shifted volumes, aligned to create a clear silhouette from a distance and a slow reveal up close.

Inside, the building is organized as a layered promenade.
Three exhibition levels stack into a single visitor journey—moving from compressed moments to open galleries, from intimate viewing to wide, light-filled rooms—so the architecture supports the art without competing with it.
The exterior remains deliberately restrained: simple planes, sharp edges, and carefully controlled openings. That discipline is what gives the museum its presence—quiet, confident, and unmistakably contemporary.

A public forecourt anchors the building to the city and establishes an everyday relationship with culture: a place to arrive, gather, pause, and return to—whether for a major exhibition or a quick visit.

Location: Astana, Kazakhstan

Area: 107,600 sq ft

Design team: Aibek Almassov, Aigerim Almassova