Saudi Arabia has announced that it has won the right to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games at its Trojena resort, which is being designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, UNStudio, Aedas, LAVA and Bureau Proberts as part of the Neom development.

The 2029 Asian Winter Games will be hosted at a 60-square-kilometre skiing and outdoor activity resort that is set to be completed in 2026 as part of Neom, a renewable energy-powered region under development in Saudi Arabia.

"Trojena will have a suitable infrastructure to create the winter atmosphere in the heart of the desert, to make this Winter Games an unprecedented global event," explained Neom chief executive Nadhmi al-Nasr.

The resort, which will "offer year-round outdoor skiing" is being built around 50 kilometres from the Gulf of Aqaba coast in a mountainous area that has elevations ranging from 1,500 metres to 2,600 metres.

It will be the first location in the country where outdoor skiing will be possible.

Named Trojena, the development is being designed by a team of architects from all over the world including UK studio Zaha Hadid Architects, Dutch practice UNStudio, international studio Aedas, German practice LAVA and Australian studio Bureau Proberts.

The masterplan was designed by LAVA, which has also designed a tunnel-shaped development described as a "futuristic folded-vertical village" by Neom.

Alongside the village will be a man-made freshwater lake designed by Bureau Proberts, while Zaha Hadid Architects "came up with other elements of the design", said Neom.

Aedas is designing the ski village itself, while UNStudio will create a series of ski-slope villas.

In total, the development will contain more than 3,600 hotel rooms and 2,200 homes.

The resort is one of 10 regions being developed as part of Saudi Arabia's Neom region. It will be connected to The Line mega city, which is being built as another major component of the Neom development.

Unveiled earlier this year, The Line will be a 500-metre-tall, mirror-clad skyscraper that is being designed to house nine million people.
After it was unveiled numerous urban design experts expressed skepticism about the Line's utopian vision and its sustainability claims.

However, in an exclusive interview with Dezeen Neom executive director for urban planning Tarek Qaddumi said that The Line megacity will "revolutionise our current way of life".

The images are courtesy of Neom.

This article was originally published on Dezeen. Read it here.