Ice Hotel
February 27th, 2005
Imagine making a building every year with the knowledge that it was going to fall apart in a few months: frustrating beyond belief or freeing beyond imagination? If you were among the artist and engineers that create Sweden’s Ice Hotel every year, you would choose the latter.
As featured in James Bond’s Die Another Day, the Ice Hotel annually takes 4 months to rebuild itself anew, which usually includes everything from Absolut Bar to the perhaps oxymoronic Ice Sauna as well as the recent addition of the Shakespearean-styled “Ice Globe Theater.” While a double bed will cost you a mere $500 (hey! that’s nothing compared to the $15,000 you’d pay to stay at the presidential suite in NYC’s Plaza Hotel), you may have to shell out a bit more to take advantage of their Ice Chapel. And with their newly opened Québec location, it’s at least worth the visit ($14 for adults.)
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February 27th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
I should also make note that the Ice Hotel uses the logic: ”[c]lean water is nothing to take for granted on our planet” to send ice in the form of ice bars, ice glasses, and ice for sculptors all over the world.
Any comments on if this is good/bad for suistainabilty / sustainablity ethic?
(i.e. is globalization / “out-sourcing” allowing for the acceleration of “corrupting” our world or is it reminding us of what we are currently lacking in our society?)
February 27th, 2005 at 9:37 pm
I think this project is a great design tangent and serves the purpose of raising questions that might otherwise go unasked. For example, is this building a good use of resources (time, land, money)? If not, then what sort of building is a good use of resources? Is this building sustainable (it’s made of water, after all.) If not, what makes for a sustainable building?
Also, bear in mind, buildings made from ice have been around for quite some time… Igloos are ice buildings, and quite good at insulating too…
As far as globalization and out-sourcing goes, I don’t think they’re inherently bad. I feel that all too often, issues are distilled down to binary choices: right or wrong, black or white, yes or no.
…If mechanization means to make things mechanized animation means to make things animate, then globalization, in essence, means ‘to make things global’. And why would it be so bad if things were global? We hear all about the world being a “global village†and talk about how the internet has resulted in connectivity and the free exchange of ideas… I feel that globalization means we could have more perspectives on the table, access to diverse cultures and experiences, new and interesting foods, different ways for doing things…
This goes for out-sourcing too. I don’t believe that out-sourcing is inherently a bad thing. It appears that jobs and processes are being outsourced because there are advantages to going elsewhere. If there is a better product on the shelf, you might choose that one, or if there’s a sale at a store, you might go there.
My gripe with both globalization and out-sourcing is that it often occurs at the expense of someone who is being taken advantage of. Ethics in business is an area that I feel needs a shot in the arm. Vestal Design was founded on the core values of environmental and social responsibility and sustainability. I feel that we are on track to be successful in bringing about great designs, innovating product ideas, and addressing sustainability with real business solutions. Designers, keep up the great work!