Icy winter weather is well on its way, but while most of us are turning up the thermostat, several creative designers are turning that below zero chill into incredible examples of ice architecture. We've scoured the world's coldest corners to bring you a flurry of beautiful buildings and interiors that have been built from ice and snow. From a
Tron-inspired ice suite in Sweden to a
sparkling snow castle in Finland to an
icicle-laden citadel built in Minnesota, hold on tight to your hot cup of joe and hit the jump for a sampling of some of the coolest frozen structures on earth.
In anticipation of the release of 3D TRON: Legacy, last year a set of Ben Rousseau and Ian Douglas–Jones created a suite at the famous IceHotel above the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The electric blue Tron-inspired lighting scheme was achieved by cutting grooves into the ice, inserting energy efficient EL wire and then icing over the wire to keep it in place. The “Legacy Of The River” suite, was part of their campaign to launch a new line of illuminated furniture and products, which debuted earlier this year.
Every January the gorgeous Hotel De Glace in Quebec City opens to the public, and visitors are invited to sleep in artistically designed ice rooms. Made almost entirely from snow and ice, the hotel changes design and shape each winter. The hotel even boasts an ice chapel where lovebirds — who didn’t fly south for the winter — can wed.
For nearly 30 years, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in northeast China to witness dazzling works of manmade ice architecture. Chunks of ice are brought in from the frozen Songhua River and molded by talented sculptors into jaw-dropping life-size creations, which are placed throughout the city.
where can i find more information on this building itself????