WAVE - The Architecture of Flow
Design Franziska Agrawal & Isabel Rengstorf | ICEHOTEL 36 | Available December 2025 - April 2026
WAVE - The Architecture of Flow
Franziska Agrawal & Isabel Rengstorf
ABOUT WAVE - the architecture of flow
“Undulating positive and negative waveforms create a dynamic interplay of light and shadow, capturing the essence of water in its frozen state, thus becoming a metaphor and an experience – an atmospheric introduction that prepares guests for what lies beyond”
WAVE is the threshold between worlds – a passage where solid compressed snow and the aesthetics of flowing motion merge into a single immersive experience. As guests walk towards and enter the outdoor entrance area, they are enveloped by sculpted walls undulating in a rhythmic interplay of positive and negative, concave and convex waveforms, which evoke the perpetual movement of water, capturing its essence in frozen state of being, bridging the ephemeral nature and water and its timeless stillness.
In this context, WAVE reinforces the idea of a subtle but powerful force moving beneath the surface – an undercurrent and momentum embodied in the waveforms that carry guests forward, guiding them through a dynamic corridor of geometric rhythm, light and shadow, preparing them for the depths of the ICEHOTEL. WAVE is more than an entrance; it is an initiation. It reminds visitors of the material’s origin, here appearing in its aggregate state, frozen in time yet full of movement.
About the artists
Franziska Agrawal is a German industrial designer and artist. A university lecturer of design and innovation, she works across a wide range of commissions, from design strategy to art in public spaces.
She has realized multiple large-scale, site-specific installations using natural and ephemeral materials around the globe and is the leading artist and head of Team Germany at international snow-sculpting competitions, currently a two-time world champion and gold medalist.
A recurring artist at ICEHOTEL, Agrawal is driven by shaping spaces that let people experience snow and ice in new ways. Her work consistently honors essential geometric forms and the principles of minimalism and concrete art.
Isabel Rengstorf has played a significant role in many of these projects over the years—especially in the early days of snow work starting in 1999 in Kiruna and remains a reliable on-and-off member of Subzero, the art collective founded by Agrawal.
