Eco Factor: Sustainable hotel designed to run on renewable sources of energy.
The North Slope Ski Hotel is the work of eco-minded designer and architect Michael Jantzen, which is designed to be primarily powered by solar and wind energy. The 95-room luxury hotel features eight large vertical axis wind turbines that are mounted on top of the hotel and a large flexible PV array to cover the lower south facing portion of the structure.
The wind turbines and solar cells are used to supply most of the hotel’s electrical needs. The entire hotel is to be build from the most appropriate and sustainable materials available on the market. Large south facing insulated windows mounted in the front of a large in front of a large amount of thermal mass in the floor of the lobby is used to help passively solar heat the hotel, along with deeply buried earth pipes.
The windows are shaded in the summer by a large overhang projecting from the south face of the structure. These large controllable windows are also used to provide natural light and ventilation for the hotel. In addition, each of the 95 rooms in the North Slope Ski Hotel, are fitted with two large windows that act as valves to control the amount of light, heat and fresh air that enters each room.
In addition to these and many other ecofriendly elements designed into the hotel, its signature statement is its shape, which incorporates a 400ft ski slope. Guests can take an elevator to the top of the hotel, and ski down the side of the structure, into the surrounding landscape. They are able to also ski down the hotel’s built-in ski slope during the summer, since it is fitted with a special skiable surface that will not require snow.
The ski slope is also designed to collect summer rainwater, and winter melting snow, as it is channeled into large storage containers buried at the base of the slope. This water is recycled and used in and around the hotel. There are many other unusual amenities in and around the hotel, like a special eco-spa, and a gym, in which guests can help to power the hotels electrical needs whenever they use the specially designed electrical generating exercise equipment.
Thanks: [Michael Jantzen]
