Images of BMW MINI deluxe suite made of ice and snow.

 Each year the  ICEHOTEL invites artists and partners to design individual rooms that  turn the hotel into a unique place of inspiration. For the 2013/2014  winter season a MINI deluxe suite was designed and implemented by the  wholly owned BMW Group subsidiary DesignworksUSA.

The interior concept: A confluence of nature and design.

In 1991 a group of artists constructed a hotel made entirely of ice  in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Ever since then, the ICEHOTEL has been  designed and built anew each year by a variety of artists and  designers – only to disappear again when the sun melts the ice in  spring.

For the DesignworksUSA team this natural, cyclical  transformation of the hotel was the inspiration for the design concept  of teh deluxe suite “MINI Evolution”. The room’s design elements take  their cue from the shapes and outlines of Lapland’s flora and fauna  and combine these with the iconic design language of MINI, which is  likewise reinterpreted time and again in an ongoing creative process.  The results are sculptures that hover in a realm of artistic suspense  between nature and human design. A further design feature around the  sleeping area uses a modern-day cave painting technique to record on  ice the story of the sculptures’ genesis.

The ice blocks used for the illuminated sculptures and furniture in  the interior are cut out of the frozen Torne river in Jukkasjärvi.  Headed by the chief designer of the ICEHOTEL it took 38 artists, five  lighting designers and 55 workmen twelve weeks to create this edifice.  The “MINI Evolution” deluxe suite sized  49 m² (445 sq ft) is  for two includes a private sauna    as well as a heated relaxation area with its own bathroom, the use    of a MINI Countryman is included