Every year, as soon as the Torne river freezes, designers, artists and architects team up to erect the unique Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, a small village in Swedish Lapland, 200 km away from the Arctic Circle.
It takes about two months to build it, but it will melt in just few weeks. All the 19 suites and 55 rooms, the church and the bar of the 26th Ice Hotel will liquefy and return to Nature in spring.
RELATED STORIES: Read more about architecture and design projects not that far away from the North Pole…
Caesar Wake suite by architect Ellie Souti and light designer Petros Dermatas is inspired by the 1920’s horror film The Cabinet of Dr Calligari.
AnnaKatrin Kraus and Hans Aescht have created the The Flying Buttress suite “We started from the existing shape and created multiple arches of ice and snow in different sizes and in different directions to capture the expanse of the suite”.
Under The Arctic suite by Rob Harding and his son Timsam “took shape while thinking about how climate can influence the way we see life and plan our futures”.
In The Eye suite, Nicolas Triboulot and Cédric Alizard wanted to “draw on the similarity between ice and crystal” and play with the visual experience of the visitor, creating a universe of shapes and playing with light.
AnnaSofia Mååg placed a three meter tall African elephant overlooking the ice framed bed. Show What You’ve Got suite by Tjåsa Gusfors and David Andrén showcases a sculptured peacock to affirm that “when you are brave and show the rest of the world your true colors, you are you’re most beautiful”.
“We wanted to create a landscape of fractals and connect elements in our surroundings with the architecture of snow and ice” say Anja Kilian and Wolfgang A Lüchow who created the Fractus Skin suite.
The Power of Love suite by Sebastian Scheller and Kristina Möckel works like an interactive machine room with enormous pipes. “When you lie down in bed, the barometer-like machinery starts harnessing your energy and produces visions and fantasies which are projected onto the screen”.
Live Your Time suite features an icy spiral capturing past present and future with a wave-like design framing the bed. “We want to encourage people to live each moment to its fullest, because those moments that make up a lifetime pass so quickly” say sculptor Jose Carlo Cabello Millán and architects Javier Alvaro Colomino Matassa.

“Live your time” suite. Design by Jose Carlos Cabello Millán and Javier Alvaro Colomino Matassa – Photo by Asaf Kliger.
Watch the shot movie about story of Ice Hotel.
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