Icespace (might have been Ice Space, not sure…IceSpace?) was an ice place in London. Well, maybe a better description would be a very chill ice lounge, as far I can see. It was right by the Tower Bridge, in Potters Fields. This was way back in May of 2006. The story was that it was scheduled to exist for 8 weeks, but closed after only 3…
Icespace
I tried to see IceSpace, but I was too late. As I remember it, I went to London and one of my reasons to go was to see it. I didn’t really plan properly and call ahead though, and when I got there, all that was left was a pile of debris. Not like it exploded or anything (not melted either!), but more like the circus had packed up and left town. I was pretty disappointed that it closed earlier than expected 😔
I’m going to get more info on this place as I think I have several contacts that were involved. But it looks like Ice Box was in charge of putting it together, at least the ice part. And I think Peter Slavin was a part of it too. But don’t take this info to the bank; I don’t want to start rumors! I’ll find out and be more definite after I look into it.
Obviously, these pics came from somewhere other than me. They’re courtesy of Adlee Sara and they hold the copyright and these pics are used with permission (they were formerly on my old, now broken website, ice carving secrets. So thanks for that, and follow the link to see more pics from Icespace (at the bottom, last time I checked.)
IceSpace seems like it was a bit different
Most ice lounges and ice bars basically have a bar for shots with ice glasses. Then they have some couches and probably a throne to sit on, mostly for pics. And they might also have some other photo op ice sculptures. And then, of course, there are sculptures all over the place.
Ice Space seems like it was a little different from the norm. Aside from being much larger than most ice lounges/bars, my understanding was that they had some entertainment and a lot of the ice art was minimalist and abstract. That’s a bit unusual, as ice bars often want to dazzle with highly detailed ice art. Not to say that the ice art in IceSpace wasn’t awesome. Just that it was perhaps more low key.
I don’t know why it closed a bit earlier than planned exactly, but it doesn’t seem like it was a bad concept. IceSpace was a very ambitious concept, but it looked to be a pretty cool place to chill, with modern art-style ice pieces, 2 impressive ice bars, and a variety of live performances. I hope someone tries something similar again. Minus5, for example, has shown that if you keep at it with ice bars, it can definitely be successful with the right formula and location. Persistence pays off; they have 3 ice bars just in Vegas these days!
so, where was it?
London, right near the Tower Bridge, as you’d know already if you’d been reading attentively 🙄 It’s long gone though, so don’t try to visit! Come to think of it, since all the ice is melted and probably mostly liquid water now, it might have even come to visit you, maybe in that bottle of water you had earlier 😳
you can read this part if you want
I’m working on rebuilding my collection of ice sculpture galleries, most recently with the massive photo dump project. I had a pretty impressive collection on the old ice carving secrets site, so I’ll eventually have all of those galleries and pics from many other places as well. My current estimate is that I will end up with at least 4 billion photo galleries on the site. Oops, I meant 60-80. But I have a ways to go, at least as I write this. For more galleries like this, check out the selection of galleries from icy places.
Also, you might also find photos and info from this gallery on the ice sculpting secrets Instagram account or the facebook page. Since you can’t comment on this page, comment there if you have any thoughts or knowledge related to this event. Thanks!