Ice Hotels

where the water is

Here the water is the wall. The snow hotel at Sinettä is rebuilt each winter out of packed snow and ice, so the rooms, the corridors and the furniture are frozen water. An ice sauna stands within the same complex, and heated glass igloos and warm service buildings sit on the ground beside it.

where it comes from

The snow comes from the site and the surrounding forest, worked into vaults over forms and left to set in the cold. The ice used for blocks and fittings is cut in slabs and lifted into place. Everything is taken from the ground it stands on and goes back to it in spring.

what it is for

The frozen water does the whole job of building here: it holds up the roof, carries the light, and keeps the interior steady whatever the night outside is doing. The warm buildings exist to make the cold ones usable, holding the washing, the eating and the drying.

what it changes inside

Because the structure cannot be heated, everything needing warmth is elsewhere, and guests cross open ground between the two. Boots and outer layers are handled at the warm side. Nothing is fixed to the walls that could not be cut from them.

one thing to settle

Ask which parts of the site are the frozen buildings and which are heated, as they are separate.

where the water is

The domes are made of snow and the valley below them is made by water. The site stands in Tamokdalen, an inland valley some way from Tromsø, with mountains close on both sides and a river running along the floor of it. The domes, their corridors and their furniture are all built from packed snow.

where it comes from

The snow is taken from the ground and the slopes around the site, moved into place and packed over forms until it holds. It falls here as weather and is gone by summer, when the whole structure melts back into the valley. The river below carries that meltwater away down the valley toward the fjord.

what it is for

The snow is the material and the season is the schedule. Building starts when there is enough of it and ends when there is not, so the domes stand only part of the year. Inside, the packed walls hold a steady cold and take the sound out.

what it changes inside

Nothing inside can be warm, so the heated cabins and the eating stay in separate buildings across the yard. Outdoor clothing goes on before you enter, not off. Furniture is cut from the same snow as the walls, and the light is set into the surfaces.

one thing to settle

Ask how the valley is reached in winter and which buildings on the site are heated.

where the water is

The building is made of river water. The igloo hotel stands beside the Altaelva outside Alta, and the ice for its blocks, its carvings and its fittings is taken from that river. Snow is packed for the vaults. Beside it, on the same estate, a year-round lodge stands as a separate building.

where it comes from

The Altaelva runs down a long valley from the inland plateau to the fjord at Alta, freezing over each winter and running hard with melt each spring. The ice is cut from it in slabs while it is thick, hauled up the bank and stored until the build begins. In spring the structure returns to the same river.

what it is for

River ice is used because it is clear and cuts cleanly, which is what makes the carved walls and the ice furniture possible. Packed snow does the structural work above. The heated lodge alongside carries the kitchen, the washing and the sleeping for everyone else.

what it changes inside

The split between the two buildings shapes everything. Guests dress for outside to cross between them, and bags stay on the warm side. Inside the ice, surfaces are cut rather than fitted, lighting is buried in the blocks, and floors are covered against boots.

one thing to settle

Ask which building your night is booked in, as the frozen hotel and the lodge are separate places.

where the water is

Snow is the ground and the sauna is the room. Glass Resort stands near Rovaniemi, close to the airport, as a set of separate houses with glass fronts and roofs. Snow lies against them for the length of the winter, and each house has its own sauna and its own bathroom rather than sharing them.

where it comes from

The snow arrives as weather and stays because the ground stays frozen, so it banks up against the buildings until spring. Water for the houses comes from the local supply and is heated inside each one for the sauna and the shower. The pines around the plots hold the snow in place between them.

what it is for

Two kinds of water sit on either side of the glass: dry cold snow outside, steam inside. The sauna is the point of the house, and the glazing exists so that the cold and the dark can be looked at from within the warm.

what it changes inside

Each house repeats the whole set of rooms instead of pooling them, and the wet block sits at the back with the glass at the front. Boots and outer clothing stop at a lobby by the door. Drying happens indoors, because outside will not do it.

one thing to settle

Ask how the houses are laid out and how the sauna in yours is heated and timed.