Slope
Dubai
United Arab Emirates, 2006

Ski Dubai, located in the Mall of the Emirates, places an artificial winter landscape within an urban environment defined by heat. The complex covers approximately 22,500 square metres of snow and maintains sub zero temperatures throughout the year. Winter therefore appears here not as a seasonal condition, but as a fully designed and technically regulated environment.

The tension of the site lies in this complete reversal of context. In the middle of Dubai, cold is produced as a space of experience, complete with ski slope, mountain scenery, and alpine amenities. Even the après ski reveals this layering: on the balcony of the Avalanche Café, which overlooks the slope, patio heaters are installed. Within the simulated winter, warmth is thus added once again. Ski Dubai makes visible how climate, consumption, and decor merge into a space in which even the experience of a season becomes a constructed product.