Archinect - News

World's largest annual ice festival transforms north-eastern China

2019-01-09T13:59:00-05:00

Spanning over 600,000 square meters and including more than 100 structures, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is one of the world's largest ice festivals. Running from January 5th through February, builders use over 8 million cubic feet of ice and snow to build illuminated ice castles and other installations. Located in the city of Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province, the festival attracts millions of visitors annually. Attractions range from traditional Chinese architecture to Gothic-inspired structures made with blocks of ice from the frozen Songhua River. Take a look below.

Fire & ice: blaze breaks out in Quebec City's ice hotel

2018-01-16T13:59:00-05:00

After a seemingly perfect start to the season, with temperatures well below the freezing point, Quebec City's ice hotel was hit by one of its fiercest opponents: fire. A small blaze broke out in one of the hotel's 45 guest rooms early Tuesday morning, forcing the evacuation of the structure, made completely out of ice, at the Village Vacances Valcartier winter park. "When I received the phone call they had to repeat twice that there was a fire in the ice hotel," said manager Jacques Desbois.

The fire was quickly extinguished and nobody was injured, however hotel operations had to be halted for a few days to remove smoke damage throughout the structure and buff up the snow and ice walls.

CBC News reports that this was the first fire incident in the 17-season history of the Quebec City Hôtel de Glace.

The fire allegedly started when a candle in one of the guest rooms like these fell on a sleeping bag.

All images via Hôtel de Glace on Facebook

Architect Gustav Dusing selected for inagural Antarctic Biennial

2016-12-13T15:19:00-05:00

As part of the newly launched interdisciplinary Antarctic Biennial, architect Gustav Dusing and artist Sho Hasegawa will be sent to Antarctica in March 2017 for what could be described as an inspiring, if chilly, imaginative tabula rasa. The winners for the Biennial were chosen during this year's Art Basel Miami. As the website for the organization explains, "We are building a unique community of people who are interested in reimagining the future of shared spaces, beginning with Antarctic culture as a model for global development. With the artistic core, we are creating the platform for the interdisciplinary dialogue."

For more on ice-related architecture:

Best snow + ice architecture, 2016 edition

2016-01-27T14:35:00-05:00

In China each year, the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival features both buildings and sculptures constructed entirely of ice and snow, which are augmented with nighttime illumination. Here are a few highlights from this year's festival:

China doesn't have a lockdown on spectacular ice and snow architecture. The Pyotr Yeropkin-designed 20 meter tall by 50 meter wide Russian Ice Palace, which has been reconstructed every year since 2005 (although the design dates back to 1740) in St. Petersburg, has interior spaces with custom ice furniture:

Quebec's Hotel de Glace offers a functional, if chilly, opportunity to experience ice and snow architecture. Each year, guests can stay inside one of its 44 rooms (some of which come with seemingly oxymoronic amenities, like a fireplace):

Lastly, there is the SnowCastle of Kemi by the Gulf of Bothnia in Finland, which is constructed annually and features an accompanying SnowRestaurant, SnowChapel, and SnowHotel. The SnowCastle's official website ...