Polestar, the company that started life as a Scandinavian Touring Car racing team, has opened a “first-of-a-kind retail snow Space” in the Arctic Circle. For those of us who have no clue what a Space is, Polestar – which now makes luxury EVs – says it’s kind of a brand store, except you can’t really buy a car there, because it sells its vehicles online.
Built in three weeks with 105,944 cubic feet (3,000 cubic meters) of snow from the Finnish ski resort of Ounasvaara, the Snow Space opened its doors on January 10 and will welcome guests until February 26, when it will be dismantled and the snow will be returned to the ski slopes.
Inside the 6.5-feet (2.0-meter) thick walls, the electric car company put its Polestar 2 EV on display, along with wheels, suspension parts, and brakes crafted as ice sculptures by local artists.
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With a height of 39 feet (12 meters), the freezing showroom was inspired by the minimalistic Scandinavian design of the Polestar headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, and built by the Finnish company Frozen Innovation after plans drawn by Polestar architects.
“The city of Rovaniemi is known for its wonderful design. We wanted to honor this by creating a beautiful work that was inspired by our brand’s minimalistic and pure design language. The choice of building material was easy due to the location and our desire to use circular materials: of course, it had to be built from snow,” says Polestar Finland’s Marketing Manager Martin Österberg.
Besides acting as a base for Polestar’s Arctic test drives of the electric Polestar 2, the Snow Space in Rovaniemi will also function as a platform for the collaboration between the EV maker and the Arctic Design Week in the Finnish town.
The Snow Space is the second Polestar Space in Finland and one of approximately 130 Spaces worldwide.
The Swedish electric car company has three models in its lineup: the exclusive hybrid-electric Polestar 1, which was built in just 1,500 units, the Polestar 2 liftback EV, and the upcoming Polestar 3 electric performance SUV.
