An interior project for Radisson Polar Hotel Svalbard — the northernmost hotel in the world — was developed by Annvil twice: during the first design competition and during the tender after the hotel owners changed the business model. Make Make won both times
The design of the hotel plays with the dark and bright sides of Svalbard — its polar nights and polar sunshine. It focuses on the flexibility of use of public spaces. For example, the hotel’s restaurant turns from a breakfast bistro in the morning to a lunch place during the day to a bar at night. It also reuses previously built structures — a part of the hotel’s building was transported from Lillehammer, the home of the 1994 Winter Olympics.
At the realization stage, it was a project for which consideration of every detail was taken to a whole new level. The only means to transport materials to Svalbard is by boat. To avoid the risk of freezing and the negative impact on materials once temperatures dropped below minus 20 degrees Celsius, use of a special heated container was necessary. This made transportation very costly and since the territory features no stores or workshops, literally every detail needed to be on board with no margin for misses.
