ICEHOTEL 36 - WAVE - 2025/26

outdoor art project - design of the main entrance area of the ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.

As the Icehotel melts away each spring and is rebuilt anew each winter, the public entrance area is re-crafted from ice harvested from the Torne River—the same river that provides the material for the entire hotel.

“Sculpted walls of undulating positive and negative waveforms create a dynamic interplay of light and shadow, capturing the essence of water in its frozen state and establishing a flowing momentum that guides guests into the depths of the Icehotel.”

WAVE is the threshold between worlds - a passage where solid compressed snow and the aesthetics of flowing motion merge into a single immersive experience. As guests step into the entrance hall, they are enveloped by sculpted walls undulating in a rhythmic interplay of positive and negative, Concave and convex waveforms, which evoke the perpetual movement of water, capturing its essence in frozen state of being, bridging the ephemeral nature of water and its timeless stillness. The design establishes an immediate momentum, a sense of flow that carries guests forward, guiding them through a dynamic corridor of fluidly shifting light and shadow preparing them for the immersive experience ahead. WAVE is more than an entrance; it is an initiation. It reminds visitors of the material’s origin, here appearing in its aggregate state, frozen in time yet full of movement.