The annual Ice Hotel built from actual snow and ice every year in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden has been open for a few weeks now. And every year, the design for the hotel as well as each of the rooms is different! Participating artists and designers come to sculpt and craft the suites into works of art that one can sleep in. This year's line up is playful (a beaver wearing a ball mask!), thoughtful (a library of ice books), cosmic (entering a black hole), and, um...unsettling (a room of giant tardigrades!)...
Main Hall Cathedral Grove
Design by Dawn Detarando & Brian McArthur
At the Cathedral Grove, the icy entrance beckons you into a stand of majestic trees. Enveloped by a breath-taking clearing, take an enchanting pause in the forest where time feels suspended.
Towering rows of trunks rise like ancient columns in this woodland haven, while an illuminated sky pokes through the vaulted canopy, creating a maze of dappled light on the forest floor. Between the pristine rows, the forest unfurls, revealing the layered landscapes and inviting you to explore, wander and weave your own story into the forest's quiet narrative.
In this sacred grove, every breath becomes meditation, and every moment a chance to be both lost and found in the stillness of this sanctuary.
An Otter’s Midwinters Night’s Dream
Design by Sandra St-Laurent & Mylène Leboeuf-Gagné
As it gently drifted along the river, the otter dozed off...
in its dream, the river became a stage of a winter carnival, where creatures of the current - a playful beaver, a dancing heron and majestic salmon - gather in celebration.
The title playfully echoes A Midsummer Night's Dream, though our characters and setting tell a different story. Here, nature takes center stage in a whimsical and poetic world. Far from worry, the animals reclaim their environment in joy. We also pay tribute to the wild salmon, a strong yet vulnerable species, protected and revered for its rarity.
Design by Kristina Möckel & Sebastian
Ice is a natural time capsule. Scientist gain insight into climate history from ice cores that are a thousands of years old. The ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi adds another poetic dimension. The water of the Torne River, from whose ice the hotel is built each winter, contains its stories. Stories of visionary entrepreneurs, adventurous guests, ice artists from all over the world, and how they have made the ICEHOTEL an icon for the last 36 years.
We have frozen some of these stories as books in the Arctic Archive. Visitors are invited to use the archive and be inspired. And in the process, almost imperceptibly, they themselves become part of the greatest story of the creation and disappearance of ice...
Dragon of ICEHOTEL
Design by Gao Hongyu & Guo Baiwei
The dragon is one of China's mythical creatures and represents power and prosperity. It is a supernatural being with squamae and horns around the body and according to Chinese legend it has the power to walk, fly and swim.
In ancient times we had a lot of natural calamities, like floods and drought. The dragon had the power to spray the fire and water. According to the legend, the dragon lived on the bottom of the ocean, so every time there was trouble with the climate we prayed for help, and the dragon jumped out of the ocean and flew into the sky to spray fire or water.
We hope this theme can bring peace and prosperity to the world.
ICE AS MIRROR
Design by Pieke Bergmans & Peer de Wit
A space of reverence.
Where quiet, respectful attention is given to river ice:
cut from the flow, carried here, out of context, exposed.
Not as objects, but as something alive:
holding memory, presence, transformation.
It's about slowing down, noticing, honouring what's often overlooked.
The ice reveals cracks, bubbles - its silent existence.
Visitors pass.
They stand among the ice, behind it, beside it.
Reflections flicker. Bodies merge with matter.
A moment where the boundary between them blurs.
Then the ice softens, dissolves,
and flows back to the living river it came from,
rejoining the movement, it briefly stepped out of.
Linking the beads
Design by Yasuaki Onishi & Minako Yoshida
A "juzu" is a small, perforated bead with a thread threaded through it to form a loop, and is worn over the hands when worshipping the Buddha. Originally, it was used as a tool to count the number of times a sutra was recited.
The word "juza-tsunagi" is associated with these beads. It is a word that describes how something is connected, just like the beads. It also means not only a connection between people, but something shared, like a connection of the heart.
The dreams and imaginations of the people who stay in this room grow and fill the space with a series of "juzu". We hope that this room will be a place that will embrace them, and connect them with other people.
Parliament of Owls
Design by David Rothstein, Carlos Miguel Ramirez Pereyra & Israel Magaña Rodriguez
In the deep of the night, on silent wings, the owls arrive one by one. From all reaches of the forests, they gather - big, tall, stout, wise, curious, calm, and eager for conversation. Among the treetops, they sit in stillness. The parliament of owls has assembled, waiting for the first to speak.
The suite is intended to soothe and inspire. The rising moon and the forest's depth evoke a sense of sanctuary. The Parliament's muted chatter is otherworldly - a lullaby that is mysterious, yet serene. Sleep well under the watchful eye.
River Bed
Design by Clément Daquin & Raphaël Jeanne
Sleep beneath the ice, dive into the Torne River.
Treat yourself to a night beyond time, immersed in the frozen depths of Torne River.
Inspired by the Scandinavian tradition of ice bathing, this room transports you into a unique sensory journey, where sounds and light recreate the mesmerizing atmosphere of an underwater world, beneath the ice.
A night in this room is more than just sleep: It's an experience. An inner journey. A waking dream beneath the ice.
Soap Bubbles
Design by Coralie Quincey & Peter Hobbs
The project immerses us in the world of children's games - an imaginary and oversized world. It addresses the theme of carelessness and the ephemeral.
On one wall, a child's face emerges and blows bubbles. At the head of the bed, his band holds a bubble stick.
Some soap bubbles settle down on the bed. On the opposite wall, a bubble projected by the breath is bursting and splashing.
The composition concentrates on the essential details and use the space to describe a dynamic gesture. It invites us to appreciate beauty and fragility of life through the purity of a child's action.
Spaghettification
Design by Thomasz Czajkowski & Milosz Matelski
This room is a moment of reflection on the unavoidable forces in the universe. Forces that we know exist, but do not yet understand. In astrophysics, spaghettification is defined as the vertical stretching and horizontal compression of objects into long, thin shapes. As an object falls toward a black hole, it will be stretched like strands of spagetti. In this room concept, the room is already beyond the event horizon of the black hole - that is, beyond the point from which the gravity can no longer escape. Everything we see in the room, including the bed begins to extend like strands of pasta.
Survival of the fittest
Design by Carl Wellander & Malena Wellander
Step into the world of the small and tough. Once inside the room you'll be scaled to 1/10 of a millimeter and experience the world from a different perspective. You are now in the company of some of the toughest creatures on the planet. Tardigrades can survive any habitat on Earth, and the vacuum of space. No matter what, these moss piglets will guard you and keep you safe while you sleep.
Sweep Me Off My Feet
Design by Elin Julin & Ida Mangsbo
Welcome to a room that sweeps you away through time and space. When everything spins too fast around you, it can suddenly feel as if everything slows down and freezes in a moment.
In the storm, the strong swirling winds meet the calm stillness at the tornado's center. Here, at the eye of the storm, you can either let yourself be drawn towards its midpoint or hold on tight and try to get out.
After the storm comes the calm, and nothing remains the same. But right now, the calm is just an illusion at the tornado's midpoint.
Let go
Surrender
Let nature's forces take control
There Is No One Here
Design by Ayla Turan & Kemal Tufan
The room's design brings the joyful memories and playful spirits of childhood to life in a snowy white settings. Five sculptures playing hide and seek add both fun and humour to the space. Each one is hidden in its own unique spot, creating movement and a story within the room.
While the room cheekily claims that "there is no one here", the sculptures reveal the truth, filling the space with life and humour. This concept invites the guests to relive the innocence of childhood, while playfully exploring the fine line between the presence of absence.
https://www.icehotel.com/
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