The ICEHOTEL in Lapland, Sweden, is redeveloped every year by artists, hired by either companies or the hotel itself, who carve the most artistic, luxurious suites in the world out of ice for affluent vacationers. According to a Mar. 4 press release, BMW Group DesignworksUSA took note of this and created a design concept for a suite of their own, the Deluxe Suite MINI Evolution.
The suite is a cylindrical design full of ice sculptures and ice furniture cut from the frozen Torne River in Jukkajärvi, Sweden. The entire room is meant to reflect what BMW calls a “Place of Inspiration,” and is well deserving of the title. The artwork, inspired by MINI designs and the natural landscape surrounding the room, is what we wish we could call timeless, but the sad truth is that it will melt away come Spring.
Even though the entire hotel is made of ice, guests still experience absolute luxury in the MINI Evolution suite. This includes a private sauna for two, a bathroom, a heated relaxation area and even a MINI Countryman to ensure your stay is as good as the room looks. Take a look at the photos and see the full press release below to catch a glimpse of this truly amazing work of art before it melts.
Gallery
Munich / Jukkasjärvi. Commissioned by the MINI brand and on behalf of the ICEHOTEL in Lapland, Sweden, DesignworksUSA has created a deluxe hotel suite made of ice and snow. Each year the ICEHOTEL invites artists and partners to design individual rooms that turn the hotel into a unique place of inspiration. For the 2013/2014 winter season a MINI deluxe suite was designed and implemented by the wholly owned BMW Group subsidiary DesignworksUSA.
The interior concept: A confluence of nature and design.
In 1991 a group of artists constructed a hotel made entirely of ice in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Ever since then, the ICEHOTEL has been designed and built anew each year by a variety of artists and designers – only to disappear again when the sun melts the ice in spring. For the DesignworksUSA team this natural, cyclical transformation of the hotel was the inspiration for the design concept of teh deluxe suite “MINI Evolution”. The room’s design elements take their cue from the shapes and outlines of Lapland’s flora and fauna and combine these with the iconic design language of MINI, which is likewise reinterpreted time and again in an ongoing creative process. The results are sculptures that hover in a realm of artistic suspense between nature and human design. A further design feature around the sleeping area uses a modern-day cave painting technique to record on ice the story of the sculptures’ genesis.
The ice blocks used for the illuminated sculptures and furniture in the interior are cut out of the frozen Torne river in Jukkasjärvi. Headed by the chief designer of the ICEHOTEL it took 38 artists, five lighting designers and 55 workmen twelve weeks to create this edifice.
Specifications of the deluxe suite “MINI Evolution”
- Size of the suite: 49 m² (445 sq ft)
- The “MINI Evolution” deluxe suite for two includes a private sauna as well as a heated relaxation area with its own bathroom, the use of a MINI Countryman is included
Details of the ICEHOTEL
- Address: Marknadsvagen 63, Jukkasjarvi 98191, Sweden
- Open in the 2013/2014 season from December 2013 to 14.04.2014
- The ICEHOTEL has a total of 13 art suites and 2 deluxe suites
(Source: BMW)
