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“Who pays for a firm to design stuff like this as well as their Mars House?”

You’d be surprised.

I’ve concluded that there’s good (not big, but quite livable) money in proposing over-the-top mega-engineering projects. Over the years I’ve seen proposals for:
- a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar, including a 5-mile suspended span
- a single freeway connecting every continent (yes, I said “every”)
- an indoor ski resort in Atlanta (just a 10 minute drive from me)
- a floating ocean city
- ongoing study of a “space elevator”
- a mile-long cruise ship (lifetime occupancy intended)
and many others.

Thing is, all of these are within the realm of possibility. Strained, yes, expensive, yes, but possible. The computer you’re reading this on was similarly impossible not long ago. Elon Musk is pulling off several comparably “impossible” projects at once (mass-production luxury cars, palatable solar power for all homes, reusable space flight at 1% of normal cost, all gearing up for Mars colonization).

Who pays? Track down some ultra-rich people who are thinking big. Come up with some crazy-yet-useful/profitable notion that would cost $10B or $100B. Put together a one-sheet summary, with a note that writing a proper proposal will require 10 people 1 year ... to wit $1M, a paltry 0.01% or less of total project cost. That’s play money for a rich guy wanting to show off his futurist thinking and great wealth, and that’s a decent livable income for a team. At end of year, give ultra-rich dude the snazzy presentation for him to throw a lavish party over, solicit partnership for more research, and generally keep it going as a pet project of his for years; if he’s _extremely_ lucky & rich, you might just see it happen for real.

I’ve concluded that there’s good (not big, but quite livable) money in proposing over-the-top mega-engineering projects. Over the years I’ve seen proposals for:
- a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar, including a 5-mile suspended span
- a single freeway connecting every continent (yes, I said “every”)
- an indoor ski resort in Atlanta (just a 10 minute drive from me)

Dubai to build world's longest indoor ski slope

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ski/news/Dubai-to-build-worlds-longest-indoor-ski-slope/

By Helen Coffey, Ski and Snowboard Online Editor
5 August 2015 • 12:00am

Not content with the 103 or so Guinness World Records it already holds – including world's tallest building, longest handmade gold chain and, oh yes, largest tennis ball mosaic – United Arab Emirates is also going to be home to the longest indoor ski slope.

Plans to build a 1.2km slope in the city of Dubai were announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, earlier this month.

It's part of the elaborate Meydan One project, which will also feature a mall, 711m tower, civic plaza, 4km canal and marina with 100 berths. The development will span 3.67 million square metres, and the first stage is due to be completed by 2020. The cost of the project has not been disclosed.

Dubai already boasts Ski Dubai – the Middle East's first indoor snow centre – with five runs, the longest of which is 400m. However, it's not the longest indoor slope out there – and that's just not going to cut it for the record-hungry UAE.

The new proposed indoor ski and snowboard facility will knock current record holder, the Alpincenter in Germany, off the top spot. At 640m, this impressive indoor slope in the city of Bottrop will be little over half the length of Dubai's.

But why stop there on the World Records front? The complex is set to also include the world's tallest residential tower and the world's largest fountain, the latter measuring more than 420m across.

UEA's passion for record-breaking is hardly a secret; Guinness World Records had to set up an office in Dubai in 2013 to accommodate the plethora of record attempts across the region.

I think you’ve left out a very important component:

Demand.

Are people just itching to live in a space high rise where (according to the article) the only way to leave is by parachute? IOW, who wants to live in a minimum security prison?

Regardless of the technical hurdles, wouldn’t the very first question be ‘why build it?’.

Since there is no good answer to that question (last I checked we’ve got plenty of office space without tethering a building to an asteroid), I am a gazillion percent certain this will never be built.