|
Snow Park at Ski Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The
Thea Award-winning
Ski Dubai indoor snow ski resort
is the first of its kind
anywhere in the world. Working under Majid Al Futtaim Investments
and in conjunction with Transmontagne, Thinkwell provided concept
design, integrated construction documents, and fabrication supervision
for the Snow Play Zone, in addition to in-field art direction for
the entire Ski Dubai project. Attached to the third largest
mall in the world – the Mall of the Emirates – Ski Dubai
is 25-story-high real indoor snow mountain with five slopes, ski
lifts, a bunny run, a snowboarding half-pipe, a warming chalet,
a rustic restaurant and more. An observation tower overlooks
the resort to give Dubai’s residents and visitors a unique
glimpse of a winter wonderland in the middle of the desert.

Bird's-eye rendering for the Master Planning process.
Thinkwell conceptualized the Snow Play Zone as two primary areas. The
first is a naturalistic “outdoor” snow-scape located
within the massive Ski Dubai dome that includes: real snow pack
at a depth of more than two feet (70 cm), falling snow, multiple
toboggan slides, a choice between two sled runs for enthusiasts
of different skill levels, an icy body slide enabling an activity
jokingly referred to as “Kid Curling,” a snowman-making
area, climbing towers linked by a suspension bridge that provide
views of the ski runs, exploration caves, a challenging
climbing wall, real ice falls, and the world’s first snowball
shooting gallery.
The other half or the attraction is The Ice Cave. Enclosed
beneath the ski ramp and kept at a much-chillier 19 ºF (-7º Celsius),
this play area boasts an enormous Ice Dragon—a veritable
funhouse of icy activities including: crawling caves, a maze of
icy mirrors, special effects, a roller walk for sliding while standing
still, frost walls to write on, a snow play zone designed especially
for young guests and more. If visitors get too cold, they
can retreat to the warmth of the 3D theater or enjoy a hot beverage
on the snow-side terrace.

Thinkwell’s Ice Dragon beckons guests into the caverns where
artificial Aurora Borealis
lights create a shimmering effect on thousands of real ice crystals
that hang from the
ceiling and cover the walls in a way no artificially created environment
ever could.

A view from the top of the icy toboggan run at Ski Dubai, which looks over the Mall of the Emirates.

Ski Dubai’s Snow Play area beckons with toboggan runs, sledding
hills, a suspension bridge over a lookout and hieroglyphic-filled
caverns for exploring.
|