There are many different environmental building materials on the market. Nevertheless, Arne Bergh chooses to work with special material that is brought to us by nature – snow and ice. Snow and ice have been used for centuries by the Inuits to build houses. Even today they are still the most practical materials for very cold climates. Arne Bergh is a creative director of the Ice Hotel, which is built every winter in Sweden. He started building ice hotels years ago.
Today the process of building and designing an ice structure has become more proficient. Preparations for the construction of the ice hotel start way back in the spring. Ice gets harvested from the nearby river and stored in special warehouses. During the summer, selection of the artist starts together with other preparations. November is the month when actual construction begins if weather is permitting. The Ice Hotel officially opens in December for guest and visitors and stays open till warmer weather. In the spring, the ice building disintegrates and runs into the river. By that time the construction material of the building has completed its life cycle.
This is one of the many structures that you have to see in order to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the construction.
Letters from Listeners
This Ice hotel is much less environmental friendly as I thought… If they “harvest” the ice in springtime from a river and keep it in a warehouse until November, it will cost a lot of energy to “keep it cold” all this time! For me this is quite a disappointing discovery…
Hans Zandbergen
The ice hotel near Balea Lake in Romania (Fagaras Mountains) is built every year since 2006 (at 2034 m altitude!) only after the lake freezes (erection usually starts in November, inauguration is before Christmas); there is no energy needed to keep it cold. It’s “life” ends in spring (usually April), thus it’s more environmental friendly than others.
Adrian Iancu
” Ice gets harvested from the nearby river and stored in special warehouses. During the summer, selection of the artist starts together with other preparations”
Would be interesting to know more about the carbon footprint of this project. How much energy e. g. is used to store the harvested ice during the summer for about half a year in a warehouse? How should we imagine the architecture for preserving the construction material in terms of context and proportion to the remote environment and the actual hotel construction? Thank you for some more insight in the fashionable ice hotel industry!
Angela Silbermann
