NEOM is looking at awarding the main contract shortly for the multi-billion-riyal Trojena Ski Village project, which is currently in the retendering stage.

The Ski Village is the centrepiece of the 2029 Asian Winter Games, which NEOM is slated to host.

Trojena, the Gulf region’s first outdoor ski resort, is expected to offer year-round skiing (three months on snow and year-round synthetic “dry” skiing), and feature retail stores, restaurants, luxury mansions, apartments and luxury hotels including serviced apartments operated by prestigious operators.

The iconic development is designed by a consortium of architecture firms from all over the world with Aedas masterminding the design of the ski village.

According to Aedas, in response to the client’s simple yet complex brief to ‘create something never seen before’, the firm came up with a disruptive new paradigm for ski village typology.

Aedas Global Design Principal Ignacio Gomez elaborates: “For millennia, ski villages have had the same formula with multiple plots and buildings connected by roads. We challenged this convention by asking what if the village could be a building. This led us to dream up a superstructure that has the scale of a village but with all the connections and mobility happening vertically across several levels.”

The resort’s multi-level activation is a radical breakthrough in ski village design. At Trojena Ski Village, visitors will be able to smoothly transit between experiences through a range of vertical mobility devices, both passive and active. Using variety of mobility systems, visitors will be able to move with ease to enjoy an active, outdoor lifestyle filled with moments of surprise and play, Aedas says.

Trojena Ski Village is expected to be a year-round tourist destination. In addition to sporting events, the venue will host art, music and cultural festivals. While winter offers the chance to ski down Trojena’s snowy slopes, during the rest of the year, visitors will be able to ski on the synthetic surface slopes, engage in mountain biking, enjoy the zip line, Alpine coaster, and a variety of mountain sports in a one-of-a-kind place where technology meets nature.