Astana’s Left Bank represents the heart of President Nazarbayev’s vision for his new republic. Almost entirely built since the move of the capital to Astana in 1997, the on going construction on the Left Bank is both relentless and monumental.

The Left Bank is dominated by the 100-metre wide Central Boulevard which stretches for over a mile between Kazakhstan’s two axes of power – the building of the state oil and gas company, KazMunaiGas, in the west and the Presidential Palace in the east, taking in the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, the National Library, Parliament and the Courts of Justice on the way.

In 2006, the main axis was further extended with the positioning of Norman Foster’s new Palace of Peace and Reconciliation across the river from the Presidential Palace, and the initial stages of construction of another Foster commission – a giant indoor tent, Khan Shatyr – to the west of KazMunaiGas. These two structures, both of which will have been built in record time, look set to be the architectural highlights of the new city, along with Manfredi Nicoletti’s boat-shaped concert hall, currently also under construction.

To really appreciate the scale of the building work, walk to the middle of the Central Boulevard and ascend to the top of Baiterek or the ‘tree of life’ – a large glass sphere perched atop a 100-metre-tall tower representing the Kazakh national myth of a golden egg laid by the legendary Kazakh bird Samruk. From this vantage point, you can see the scale of Astana’s construction, as cranes and skyscrapers rise all around you – a frenetic contrast to the emptiness of the surrounding steppe.

Due to open in the autumn of 2008, Foster’s second commission in Astana, Khan Shatyr – a giant indoor city with its own beach made with solar-trapping materials – looks set to become a year-round paradise for sun-worshipping hedonists: even when it is –30ºC on the snow-covered steppe outside.