building with snow and ice: ephemeral art and architecture for sub-zero temperatures

"Each winter, ice and snow become building materials. From vernacular structures such as igloos and temporary snow shelters to snowmen shaped by hand, frozen water has long been used to form space, mark presence, and test the limits of climate and material. In contemporary practice, architects and artists work against time and temperature, shaping environments that last only as long as the cold allows."

"Beyond hotels and festivals, smaller-scale works show how frozen materials can operate between architecture and art. Finland's Snow Show in 2004 brought together architects and artists including Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, and Morphosis to create spatial works made entirely from snow and ice. In Stockholm, Ulf Mejergren Architects built a temporary 'primitive hut' from 4,000 snowballs, while Japanese floral artist Azuma Makoto has explored cold as a creative condition, freezing floral arrangements in ice and staging large pine tree installations within snowy landscapes."

Ice and snow serve as building materials across scales, from vernacular igloos and snow shelters to sculpted snowmen and large-scale festival constructions. Seasonal ice hotels like Sweden's ICEHOTEL and Canada's Hôtel de Glace are rebuilt annually from river or carved ice and snow, offering immersive, artist-designed rooms and rotating themes. The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in China constructs illuminated walls, vaults, and monumental structures that create extensive winter environments. Experimental projects and exhibitions, such as Finland's Snow Show, Ulf Mejergren's snowball hut, and Azuma Makoto's frozen floral installations, explore the boundary between architecture and art while embracing temporality.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine