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VIP structure for ski event is designed to accommodate guests and snow loads.
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships are second only to the Winter Olympics as the most exalted alpine ski competition in the world. The 2015 championships, held in February at Vail and Beaver Creek, Colo., attracted 700 of the world’s best ski racers, along with prestigious sponsors, thousands of spectators and an onsite media and broadcast entourage of approximately 1,500.
The Vail Valley Foundation wanted to create a unique VIP space for Platinum and Gold guests, who numbered more than 1,000 each day of the two-week event. Denver, Colo.-based Condit was tasked with providing both an elegant two-story, 21,500-square-foot structure and the design and custom interior build-out as well.
Condit staff and a team of engineers were on-site the previous September through November, constructing both the VIP structure and a smaller, single-story structure that would be used as a television studio.
“The temporary structure was installed at an elevation of just over 10,000 feet and on the side of the mountain at a 40-degree angle,” says Sky Curl, Condit project manager and business director. “The structure sat atop a scaffolding platform 35 feet in the air, and had to remain in place all winter and support tremendous snow loads. Additional engineering and support columns were added to take the additional weight.”
The aluminum and steel frame structure sported a thermal inflatable roof and an additional 16,500-square-feet of exterior decking. The structure included custom restrooms, catering kitchens, natural gas as the heating source, extensive lighting, custom furnishings and flooring, and themed entertainment and food and beverage areas.
Reactions from VIP guests and the Vail Valley Foundation were outstanding, Curl says.
“The presence and stature of the building blew everyone away,” he says. “People expected a tent, but no one had ever seen such a durable, beautiful and substantial temporary building of this nature.”