Dawang Mountain Resort

The Coop Himmelb(l)au concept for the Deep Pit Snow and Ice World project engages the existing deep pit, recognizing both its cultural heritage and natural beauty. Towards the South and East the existing pit is revealed and the sculpted shell of the Snow and Ice World floats over a sunken and hanging garden creating a new functional leisure space of islands, water and cliffside pathways connecting the building to this natural space. The roof of the Ice World and its base are freeform geometries with a large span. In order to fulfill design criteria and the requirements for an efficient load bearing behavior, engineers Bollinger + Grohmann developed a form finding process controlled by an genetic optimization algorithm to define the global shape.