Kazakhstan is building a new city, and it just got a centerpiece worthy of the ambition. On March 5, 2026, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill unveiled the Alatau Iconic Complex and Gateway District, a pair of pyramidal towers set to define the skyline of Alatau, a brand-new city rising along the Almaty–Qonaev highway in south-eastern Kazakhstan. This is the same firm behind the Burj Khalifa, One World Trade Center, and Jin Mao Tower. The pedigree speaks for itself.
Alatau is planned to span 88,000 hectares across four districts, positioned along the Western Europe–Western China transport corridor, with a master plan stretching through 2050. SOM’s Iconic Complex sits at the heart of the city’s fourth zone, the Gateway District, designed as a dense, walkable neighborhood anchored by multimodal transit. It’s not just a building drop. It’s a full urban proposition.
Designer: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
The complex totals 276,800 square meters across two towers: a 272-meter, 56-floor primary skyscraper housing offices and premium residences, and an 80-meter luxury hotel tower with branded residences and retail. When complete, the taller structure will be the tallest building in the region. The design concept, titled “Mountain Landscape,” pulls directly from the Trans-Ili Alatau, a 350-kilometer range of valleys, glaciers, and stratified terrain that forms the natural backdrop to the site. SOM translated that geology into architecture through stepped, wedge-shaped volumes, each level lined with external terraces and large central atria that pull light deep into the interiors.
Engineering the towers required serious thinking. The region sits in a high-seismic zone, which led to a dual structural strategy: a Japanese seismic damping model that absorbs earthquake energy through controlled structural movement, paired with an American reinforced framework built around a high-strength steel skeleton. The project also integrates eVTOL infrastructure alongside pedestrian and transit networks, future-proofing the complex well beyond its 2029 completion date.
Construction has been handed to China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a partnership announced during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s state visit to China in September 2025. Full-scale excavation is scheduled to begin in May 2026, with total private investment exceeding $800 million.
For Kazakhstan, this goes beyond architecture. With Parliament recently approving a Constitutional Law on Alatau’s special status, the Iconic Complex is set to become the economic and cultural core of Central Asia’s most closely watched new city. SOM has built skyline-defining towers before. This one carries the weight of an entire nation’s next chapter.
The post SOM’s New Kazakhstan Towers Look Like a Sci-Fi Set. They’re Not. first appeared on Yanko Design.
