Climate change calls for new ways of living. At a time when glaciers are retreating and winters shortening, ‘Save the Ice’ means going against the grain, harnessing ubiquitous and natural winter precipitation in Stockholm as a viable building material for the future. In the age of the Anthropocene, when human activity has had an undeniable influence on the state of Earth, the answer for a new, sustainable building material could lie in taking advantage of different states of the material that constitutes 71% of our planet.
Sited on the boundaries of inner city and suburban Stockholm, the project proposes a community hub for Hornstull, Stockholm, centered around ice harnessing and processing techniques. By collecting ice and snow within the city, the proposition aims to use these seasonal materials as a celebratory beacon to bring people across all walks of life together, bridging divides within a city facing integration issues.
Material tests that explore the formal and lumetric potential of ice and snow, providing the basis for an architecture which is directly informed by winter precipitation.
The building anticipates the coming of winter, transforming through the collection of ice and snow.