In Jukkasjärvi, a tiny little town 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, the now iconic ICEHOTEL art project-come-hotel is more than two decades old. Although you won’t get a warm welcome at this hotel since it’s carved from tonnes and tonnes of ice, but you can experience the romance of Paris matter how it may sound impossible. For its 24th season, this world’s coolest hotel reveals new suite, inspired by the Montmartre neighborhood, one of Paris’ most famous and recognizable areas. French design studio Les Ateliers de Germaine carved the famous Parisian skyline into the walls of a room, which is dubbed ‘Up There’. The suite features jagged rooftops and the basilica of the Sacré-Coeur, along with chimney pot ice sculptures, backlit windows and a bed frame made of blocks of ice.
Luc Voisin and Mathieu Brison of Les Ateliers de Germaine wanted to represent the City of the Light and to celebrate its position as a source of inspiration for artists and a destination for billions of tourists from all over the world.
“More than a design, more than an architecture, it’s a trip to the heart of one of the historical districts that we offer,” claim the pair. “You can feel the people living all around you, you might even see them if you’re curiously peeking out the window. You are part of the city, you are the city.”
Beside this “3D postcard from France”, ICEHOTEL features eight new suites carved by artists from 1,600 tonnes of ice. The art works were chosen from a total of 200 designs submitted for this year’s incarnation of the hotel. Other art suites include ‘Mind the Gap’ by Marcus Dillistone and Magdalena Åkerström, which features an ice sculpture of an underground train, and ‘Pole Dancing’ by Christine and Natalie Close, which counts a huge polar bear sculpture amongst its interior design.
