Uzbekistan is looking to relaunch its capital city onto the international scene by creating a new mixed-use business district - its largest regeneration project in decades. The Congress Centre and adjacent 5-star, 22-storey hotel are the first elements of the green-hearted master plan to be executed. The brief required them to be recognisable from the city silhouette, transforming Tashkent’s skyline while integrating with their context. The two-storey Congress Centre contains a 70-by-70-metre subdividable main hall with 14-metre-high ceiling, ballroom, presidential rooms, delegation offices, concert hall, and meeting areas. The most striking design element is the facades enveloping both the hotel’s base and the Conference Centre. Their organically transparent aluminium mesh, with LED lighting system, reinterprets traditional Uzbek decorative patterns, providing the complex with an identity that carries through into its interior design, signage, and landscape elements. Their creation provided a pathway to open new factories and improve the local industry skillset.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture