CHILLING AT THE ICE LOUNGE

Cape Town's V&A Waterfront has unveiled yet another attraction for the summer months with the opening of the Ice Lounge, a bar made out of over 70 tons of ice. Andrew Starke braved sub-zero temperatures to find out how and why this new venture came into being.

It is not every day that a company decides to put 60 tons of Canadian ice on a ship, travel half way around the world and build a cocktail bar with it for a Cape Town summer. This is what South African company Thor Ice has done in completing the construction of this country's first Ice Lounge.

While a venue made entirely from ice is a unique proposition for the local market, similar venues have operated around the world with ice lounges and ice bars having been constructed in London, Sydney, Milan and Stockholm in past years. The ice hotel in Sweden attracts 100 000 visitors a year but, it is a greater challenge to maintain an Ice Lounge in a South African summer than an Ice Hotel over the European winter.

Thor Ice has over the past five years introduced a number of innovative means of branding and product display through ice carving and creative frozen product inserts. It is this experience that drove them to attempt a far bigger project: constructing the region's first lounge or bar of this kind. Both Cape Town and Johannesburg were considered as locations for the project but ultimately Cape Town's cosmopolitan nature won favour with the creators who have visited similar venues in trendy cities across the globe.

According to Brian Gardener, a manager at the R3-million Ice Lounge, the venture's opening week in November was very successful with 80 - 100 people typically visiting during the day and a further 250 in the evenings. He expects these numbers to increase as the peak tourism season approaches, especially on weekends.

"We are obviously here to make some money, but it was also important to us that a South African company was able to pull off what has not been attempted before," he said.

Gardener said that most visitors lasted between 30 minutes and an hour in the sub-zero temperatures.
Visitors to the Ice Bar are first kitted out in thermal, hooded ponchos before they step into the sub-zero environment where everything is made out of ice: the walls, pillars, kiddies slide, benches and seating, the bar, hand carved sculptures and even some of the glasses from which guests drink.

It took 150 people about three months to construct the lounge, which can accommodate about 150 people and seat 30. Outside the Ice Lounge but still beneath the marquee is another bar where customers can dance, socialise and generally warm up before returning, if they wish, to the lounge.

The Ice Lounge's journey began in Canada where nearly 60 tons of structural ice was shipped to Cape Town. After seven weeks at sea, the containers were unloaded in the Mother City and placed into massive freezer storage, a careful process in which the exact packing order needs to be maintained if the build is going to run according to schedule and without any wastage.

An additional 15 tons of ice was manufactured locally to complete the required amount for this ambitious undertaking. A fleet of eight-ton trucks then shuttled the ice to the building site where forklifts lifted and placed the ice.

The lounge is now housed within a giant marquee and 600m² of thick freezer panelling. To assist in combating the effects of an African summer, four condenser units will keep the environment at -10°C although this rises to -5°C if the venue is full of people.

Live ice carving is planned over the tourist season with a large whale slide and impression of Nelson Mandela amongst the initial ice sculptures decorating the venue.

While Thor Ice's experience has been gained in Canada and Europe it considers itself proudly South African with local partners and employees, six of whom hail from Soweto and now make a permanent living as ice carvers. Gardner said the group hopes to make the creation and operation of an Ice Bar in Cape Town an annual event.

Although the main structure of the venue will remain unchanged this season, the interior can be customised through ice carvings, lighting and frozen product inserts and displays.

For more information: e-mail: icelounge@echopr.co.za or go to www.icelounge.co.za.

FACTS  • Almost 75 tons of ice was used with 60 tons coming from Canada and about 15 tons produced locally.  • The temperature inside the Ice Bar varies between -5°C and -10°C.  • The venue is 200m2, which the operators claim makes it the largest ice bar in the world. It is the first in Africa.  • The ice sculptures and interior of the Cape Town Ice Lounge were carved by Thor Ice using a combination of chisels,     chainsaws and angle grinders and state-of-the-art machinery  VISITING THE ICE LOUNGE  • The Ice Lounge is between CD Warehouse, the Aquarium and the Cape Grace Hotel at the V&A Waterfront in Cape     Town. It is located under a large, white marquee.  • Visitors can bring their own warm clothes or borrow fleecy hooded ponchos, gloves and boots at the door.  • All are welcome between 9am and 5pm and entertainment is provided for children.  • From 6pm until 2am the Ice Lounge functions as a nightclub and only over-18s will be admitted.  • The daytime price is R50 for adults and R35 for children while the evening price of R75 includes a cocktail in the     entrance fee. Tickets can be booked through Computicket.