Ice Hotel

35,000 sqm / Queenstown Queenstown is a popular alpine ski town in the southern lakes district of New Zealand. The site for this hotel is tightly constrained, sitting on a steep slopes facing south looking over Lake Wakitipu, with spectacular views of the town and the Remarkable Mountain range beyond. Formally, the hotel responds to the natural context of glacially formed mountains and valleys. Rooms are contained within white cement-clad blocky forms which cascade down the steep site in the manner of an alpine hilltown in the European tradition. The hotel is entered from the top of the site with the establishment of a public retail shopping edge to the existing street. Within the urban context of a ‘hilltown’, a mid-level laneway has been located to facilitate pedestrian access down through the site to the lake esplanade while also providing views, daylight, air and natural ventilation to the central hotel rooms. Site planning maximises lake views from rooms and provides a wide format orientation to the outlook with extensive outdoor terraces.