Ice Hotels

Conifer forest stands around the site and keeps its colour through the cold months. The ground is cleared where the building goes up and left wooded on every other side. Snow covers the open ground for the length of the season. A small town lies close by, screened from the site by trees.

The building itself is made of the season: snow packed into vaults and ice cut into walls and furniture. Light passes through the ice rather than around it, so the material sets the colour of each room. The forest is what you see through the entrance. Fur and timber replace soft finishes.

Thick snow vaults hold the outside cold at a steady remove and keep the wind entirely off the sleeping alcoves. Heated service buildings stand apart, which keeps warm air and running water out of the ice structure itself.

Cleared ground carries the site, and forest closes it on every side. The trees are conifers and they hold snow on their branches for months. There is no settlement against the property, so the sky stays dark at night. The ground is level, worked and kept open around the buildings.

The snow building is shaped from the same snow that lies outside it, so material and setting are the same thing. Glass igloos stand apart on the open ground with the roof left clear to the sky. Ice blocks form the bar and the seating. Lighting stays low so the outside remains visible.

The snow shell holds wind off completely and keeps the interior at a steady cold rather than a changing one. The heated service block is separate, which keeps warmth and damp air away from the snow structure and its ceilings.

Lapland surrounds the village: open snow ground, conifer stands and no built street of any kind. The site is rebuilt in the same place each winter and returns to open ground afterwards. Forest edges mark the boundary. Nothing permanent stands against the walls of the snow buildings.

Carving is how the outside becomes the inside here, because the walls themselves are the finish. A theme is chosen for each season and cut into snow and ice throughout the rooms. Blocks of clear ice hold light in the bar and chapel. The entrance opens straight onto the snow ground.

Packed snow walls shut out wind and hold the interior at one steady cold. Service buildings with heat and water are kept away from the village, so no warm air reaches the carved surfaces and softens them.

Above the treeline nothing grows around this village, so snow and rock are the whole setting. The domes stand on an open shoulder of mountain high over the valley. Forest is visible far below and stops well short of the site. Ridges close the view on the upper side.

The domes are built from snow taken off the same slope, so the outside is also the structure. Curved walls carry carving and low light. The entrance tunnel opens onto open mountain with nothing between. Sheepskin and mats line the sleeping platforms while the shell stays bare.

The dome shape sheds wind, which matters most on exposed high ground with no trees to slow it. The tunnel entrance keeps moving air out of the sleeping chamber, and the mass of snow keeps the interior cold steady rather than sharp.