Icehotel
Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
Torne RiverSculpture studio
Jukkasjärvi sits deep in Swedish Lapland, well inside the Arctic Circle. Each spring, workers saw blocks out of the frozen Torne and store them; each winter they become a hotel again, a cycle that began around 1990.
No designer inherits last year's room. Artists apply from around the world, and the chosen proposals become individual suites carved by hand. Indoors the air stays just below zero, so the night is spent in Arctic-rated sleeping bags on reindeer pelts. Heated rooms and chalets wait nearby.
A permanent sister building, Icehotel 365, opened in 2016 and keeps its ice suites frozen through summer, partly on solar power. The seasonal structure is left to thaw when the light returns.