Slalom House: A Ski Slope Atop an Apartment Building

Slalom House

Despite bitterly cold winter temperatures, residents of Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana still want to hone their ski and snowboarding skills. However, the options to do so are limited – some locals have been reduced to packing together their own mini slopes in public parks.

The solution? Slalom House.

Slalom house is a 21-story apartment block with a 1,000-foot artificial slope descending from its room. Proposed by avid skier Shokhan Mataibekov of the Union of Architects of Kazakhstan, the project will cost roughly $70 million.  There are already interested parties hoping to take the design further.

The Slalom House’s multi-purpose design saw it nominated in the residential future projects category at the World Architecture Festival. According to the plans, the lower floors of the building will be a space for retailers and food outlets continently located beneath the 421 two-bedroom residences. A separate entrance, which provides access to the slopes, will include “panoramic elevators” that take visitors to the top of the building.

The Slalom house will fit right into Astana’s spectacular skyline – dotted with futuristic buildings that house museums, retail space and government offices. The locals have nicknames for the building including “dog bowl”, “flying saucer”, and “lollipop”.

Check out some pictures of the envisioned ski slope/apartment building/mall.

The Astana Skyline