The closed ski slope is a wonderful functional excuse to create a good example of non-linear architecture. This direction is also called "digital" - because complex and varied bends must be calculated on a computer, or "biological", because of the similarity of architectural volumes with different natural forms. Over the past 5-7 years, it has spread very much in the West, and in our country you can also notice some manifestations, mainly in the form of slight tilts and rounding, as well as a meaningfully chaotic dance of windows - these techniques now penetrate almost everywhere. A number of projects of some architects, in particular, the Europark shopping complex from ABD architects, which, according to the head of the company Boris Levyant, was his first experience in this direction, is distinguished by a more “radical”, if I may say so, digitality.
Freestyle, thus, is the second experience, one of the distinctive features of which is that a nonlinear form with distinct bionic associations in this case is given by a function, which it vividly and meaningfully continues, develops and embodies. An expensive venture for extreme entertainment at any time of the year, thus, becomes a successful background, an impetus for the development of no less extreme and at the same time relevant imagery.
The slope, enclosed in a "wind tunnel", bends twice, changes direction and angle of inclination, and thus provides the maximum experience for skiers. This is the first feature of the project: closed routes, of which there are about fifty in the world, do not always make it so difficult. The second feature is a slope covered with artificial snow with a total length of approx. 550 m will combine a longer ski slope, a snowboard track and a training slope, which is planned to be located below. As such, Freestyle will be one of the hyper-scale enclosed slopes, a treasure box of super-sensations for visitors.
The impressions are built on contrasts - after the spectacular turns of the slope, the second in their list is the comparison of the winter landscape inside the ski tube and the "tropical" setting of the aqua park located in the lower floors of the complex. At the end of the descent, skiers will observe the luxury of water attractions through the stained-glass window - and can, if they wish, go from one to the other, realizing the old dream of many Russians - that winter and summer are in one bottle and at once. The variety does not end with the combination of skiing, snowboarding and a water park: in addition to parking lots, there will be hotels, residential apartments, shops of various types, from supermarkets to specialized sports ones. However, the core of the idea and its main architectural accent are the ski slopes.
Outside, the Freestyle, thanks to the motley-checkered "skin", most of all resembles an anaconda snake, crawling onto a hill and surveying the surroundings from an 80-meter height - this is the height difference from the top point of the ski slope, where there is a large, almost the entire width of the "pipe ", Stained glass window - the eye of a giant snake. The imaginary head of the python is supported by a metal pillar-support split for reliability into several branches, in which, so as not to be wasted, an elevator will be arranged to lift skiers to the top point of the artificial mountain. The construction of the complex is conceived on a relatively flat area - in the absence of natural mountains, the body of an artificial anaconda will "lie" on an artificial elevation - a streamlined building with rows of elliptical and round "ship" windows - which will house the above-mentioned apartments andthe shops. The complex, located one and a half kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road, three kilometers from the metro and next to the Kiev highway, will be provided with everything necessary for a comfortable life.
So, it is easy to see that Freestyle is a spectacular, impressive at first glance construction that responds with a non-linear form to the extreme entertainment task set before it.
This unity between complementary architecture and function is remarkable. Firstly, because it embodies the dream of the "classical" avant-garde, which has been half-forgotten in our time, at the same time uniting it with the actual plasticity. And secondly, it is easy to notice that, as a rule, even in the most modern foreign buildings, nonlinearity does not materialize the purpose of the building, but rather imposes itself in order to create an impression. Along the way, of course, various additional conveniences and advantageous angles arise, but it is difficult to hide the fact that in most of even the most "hyped" cases, the main gain from the modern extravagant form lies in its uniqueness, shocking the viewer, and very rarely in its usefulness …
And the ski slope ABD architects successfully avoids contradiction: its form can well be considered as both fashionable and practical, brought to life by a function, and in this sense, it simultaneously meets the requirements of modernism and neo-modernism, as a result, apparently, giving modernism squared.
