Call me old fashioned, but I’m a huge fan of visiting naturally formed slopes for all my alpine skiing needs. I even think it’s sacrilegious for resorts to use artificial snow, and excessive grooming equipment because such elements do not offer the same experience as naturally formed conditions. So when Dubai opened the largest indoor ski resort in the world, many of us gave a collective shudder. Sure it’s marvelous that we’ve engineered a way to maintain 22,500-square metres of snow covered slopes in the middle of the desert, but isn’t that ridiculously excessive? Many people refuse or can’t afford air conditioning in their homes, while Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates is sucking back oil by the drum to fuel the largest freezer known to mankind.
But who’s to blame? It’s not entirely the designer’s fault, as someone must have commissioned the project based upon a perceived need at the consumer level, right? One thing’s for certain, it’s not the first or the last time we’ll see a structure that does not make sense. Take for instance the Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG) Hefjell Mountain Hotel. Designed as a zig-zagging complex of apartments and hotel rooms, the roof of this ski (dis)lodge actually serves as the alpine slope. Although the argument could be made that this blending of natural and man made elements is similar to another project we’ve featured, the Hefjell Ski Resort is simply too cold (pun not intended) and laboratory-like to garner the same praise.
