The finished Academy seen straight on from Segoh street: pale plaster above, brick below, bands of turquoise tile over the windows, and TUMARYS ACADEMY carved above the arched entrance.

Segoh street 8.

Our campus is rising in the Qoʻshtamgʻali neighbourhood of Samarkand: three floors and a basement, brick and pale plaster, turquoise tile set above the windows in the old manner. It was designed in Samarkand and is being built by Samarkand hands.

Architect’s render of the completed building

What it will look like

The building is not finished, so these are the architect’s renders rather than photographs. We will replace each one with the real thing as the walls go up, and the Journal follows the build in between.

The main entrance: a brick arch with TUMARYS ACADEMY in raised letters above it, warm lamps on either side, and a broad flight of steps up from the pavement. — The entrance on Segoh street

The ayvon: a covered walkway of slender carved columns running along the courtyard, with narrow panels of turquoise tile set into the wall behind. — The ayvon, for tea and ideas

The courtyard from beneath the ayvon: a young tree on a lawn, clipped shrubs, and the Academy’s lit windows rising behind. — The courtyard

The courtyard garden seen from an upper floor: a rectangle of lawn and planting beside pale paving, with the columns of the ayvon at one edge. — The garden, from above

The Academy at evening from along the street, every window warm, and the roof terrace lit by strings of lamps above the parapet. — From along Segoh street

The lower floor after dark: brick, black stone at the base, the tall service doors, and light spilling from the basement windows onto the pavement. — The street frontage after dark

Floor by floor

Downstairs, the loud rooms

A makerspace with 3D printers, a technical workshop, two music rehearsal rooms, and the kitchen where students and staff eat together.

The ground floor, the working core

A computer laboratory, a STEM laboratory, two classrooms, and a reception where somebody will remember your name.

Upstairs, room to speak

Two studios built for public speaking, a lecture hall that converts to a stage for music and theatre, and quiet rooms for study.

On the roof, a garden that teaches

One hundred and fifty-four square metres of working green roof, part garden, part classroom for our sustainability courses, above a courtyard shaded by a columned ayvon (veranda).

The building opens in March 2027, and we are documenting every stage. Watch it grow in the Journal.

Follow the construction diary