Spotlight on: Building designs with ski slopes

Architecture group Shokhan Mataibekov have recently put forward a proposal for a housing complex in Astana, Kazakhstan with a ski slope on top.

It’s the third high-rise proposal in five years to include a ski slope. While none of the proposals have gone ahead yet, meaning it might be too eager to call this a micro trend, perhaps one day in the near future realtors might be able to list skiing straight out of an apartment as a selling point.

Shokhan Mataibekov’s housing proposal House Slalom would have 21 stories, 421 apartments, and an outdoor 304-metre ski slope running to the ground.

In 2013 firm BIG (Bjarke Engels Group) designed Amager Bakke, a power plant and ski slope that blows smoke rings for Copenhagen, Denmark.

The third conceptual proposal designed in 2010 is the “North Slope Ski Hotel" by US firm Michael Jantzen. The eco-friendly 95-room luxury hotel would be primarily powered by the wind and sun.