Electrified TRON Ice Hotel Suite Opens in Sweden

With the much anticipated 3D TRON: Legacy coming out in theaters next week, a set of British designers are celebrating the Disney movie with a suite at the famous <a href="http://www.icehotel.com/" target="_blank">IceHotel</a> above the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The electric blue Tron-inspired lighting scheme is achieved by cutting grooves into the ice, inserting energy efficient EL wire and then icing over the wire to keep it in place. <a href="http://extreme-design.net/wordpress/?page_id=33" target="_blank">Ben Rousseau</a> and<a href="http://extreme-design.net/wordpress/?page_id=37" target="_blank"> Ian Douglas–Jones</a>' art suite at the <a href="http://www.icehotel.com/" target="_blank">IceHotel</a>, "<a href="http://extreme-design.net/" target="_blank">Legacy Of The River</a>", is part of their campaign to launch a new line of illuminated furniture and interiors products due out early 2011.

For the Legacy of the River suite, the designers embedded EL wire into the ice over a black background to give the room a Tron-look.

The suite includes a bed, lighting panels as well as a table - all embedded with EL wire.

The energy efficient lighting technology needs very little energy and consistently and evenly glows in 360 degrees.

Architect Ian Douglas-Jones and designer Ben Rousseau joined forces to create the Tron-inspired suite, which will also help launch their illuminated furniture line in 2011.

The Icehotel in Lapland, Sweden is the most famous, first and largest of the ice hotels. It is a temporary hotel, lasting from December to April.

Each year the hotel is newly built and artists and designers are asked to collaborate in the design and construction.

Ben and Ian were sponsored by Oakley, who provided them gear and winter clothing to work in the extreme conditions that reach a low as -32 degrees Celsius.

The suite in construction.

Ben and Ian use various cutting tools to position the ice slabs and then cut grooves in which to place the EL wire.

The EL wire is laid in the grooves and then water is sprayed over to create a layer of ice as if they were "gluing" the wire into place.

Chisels, hammers, picks and other tools like hair dryers were used to build, smooth, polish and buff out the ice.

The suite includes many light embedded panels, as well as a bed and table that all had to be created by hand.

Here Ben and Ian take a break after some of the lighting has been installed and is working.

Cracks in the ice are illuminated.

The entrance to the hotel all lit up.

Playing with light wands outside of the hotel.

More light wand action.

Even more light wand action in the corridor of the hotel on the way to the TRON suite.

Ben and Ian taking it easy on the bed post light installation.

As per tradition at the Icehotel, each designer spends a night in their room after its completion.