icehotel 36 – international design competition

Dear artists and designers,

Thank you for all your mails and for the overwhelming interest you show about ICEHOTEL, and about the process leading up to next winter. We can now confirm that we will build ICEHOTEL 36 in November 2025 and that the International Design Competition is open for application. We look forward to seeing your creative and innovative ideas. Below you will find all the information you need to submit a contribution to this year´s design competition for Icehotel 36.

We are confident that this decision will ensure the high quality experience ICEHOTEL is known for, and will preserve the tradition of working with art and design by international professionals.

Jukkasjärvi is located on the shore of the Torne river, 17 kilometers outside Kiruna. The name comes from a Sámi word that roughly translates to “meeting place by the water”. With its impressive length of 520 kilometers, the Torne river runs from the ancient mountains in the west down to the coast in the east, where it flows out into the Bay of Bothnia. As the largest of Sweden’s four national rivers it is rare – indeed, unique. One of the last untouched rivers in Europe. A wild river. It’s the Torne River that provides Icehotel with its ice in winter – and in the summer when the hotel melts, the water returns to its source. For us the natural beauty and unique story of each individual block of ice provides inspiration that can never be found in artificially frozen ice. Weather in Jukkasjärvi in November and December can be extremely cold with temperatures reaching below -30° C.