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Innovation

Rooftop to propel skiers onto runs at Lapland resort

A new design concept for the Koutalaki Ski Village creates a hybrid between the resort buildings and the ski runs, by building runs onto the rooftops.
Written by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Contributing Writer

At a ski resort in Lapland, Finland, the natural peaks will soon be joined by four artificial peaks -- on the roofs of its new resort buildings, designed by Big Architects.

For the development, called the Koutalaki Ski Village, the Danish architecture firm's goal is to connect skiers and snowboarders to the groomed runs all around the buildings by turning the building's roofs into mini ski runs. The goal is to eliminate the slogging that skiers and snowboarders have had to do in order to get from the resort's base area to the runs.

Big Architects designed the new buildings so that they encircle a central area of cafes, bars and shops that skiers and snowboarders will also be able to easily access, thereby integrating the runs with the base area. It should be interesting to see how well (or not well) traffic flow is managed as skiers and snowboarders enter the base area as they glide down the rooftops.

Elevators will allow visitors to easily access the highest point of each of the four rooftops, and as the runs meet flat ground they'll serve as walkways through the inner village. Facades of all four buildings will offer uninterrupted views of mountains surrounding the resort.

Via: Gizmag

Image: Big Architects

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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