As summer descends on Cape Town, visitors and locals are swapping bikinis for ponchos at the coastal city’s latest and undoubtedly coolest attraction — a cocktail lounge made entirely of ice.
Sixty tonnes of frozen water have been used to construct the Ice Lounge in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront complex, which its creators claim is the largest such saloon erected to date, and the first of its kind on a continent more usually associated with desert and drought.
”We’ve created something unique for people to enjoy, whether they’re five or 90,” says sculptor James Cussen of his creation, where everything — from the bar stools and drinking glasses to the decorations — is made of ice.
There is even a frosty slide, carved in the form of a whale, for children.
The R3-million lounge opened its doors to the public this weekend to ”seriously chill the Cape social scene”, according to its owners.
Cussen, co-owner of local company Thor Ice, which masterminded the project, said 45 tonnes of ice were shipped in from Canada, while the rest was produced locally. It took about 150 people three months to construct the lounge, which has been designed as a family destination by day and nightclub in the evening.
The 200-square-metre venue can accommodate 150 people at any one time and seat about 30, although few are expected to last longer than an hour in the sub-zero temperatures.
”The average temperature will be between minus five and -10 degrees Celsius,” Cussen said.
Meltdown
Outside temperatures in Cape Town, the southern-most city in Africa, regularly pass the 35 degrees Celsius mark in the summer months, but the new venue has been carefully designed to avoid meltdown.
Special low-heat lights have been installed to avoid overworking the huge refrigeration units mounted on the roof of a tent enveloping the lounge. The walls are built of huge ice bricks, and a curtain made of melon-sized ice cubes has been threaded on to ropes that hang from the ceiling.
A portrait of former South African president Nelson Mandela made of frozen snow and coloured gelatine decorates one wall. Ice was also used to sculpt the bar counter and shelves, the stools and tables, a few uncomfortable-looking ”couches” in the corner, 15 000 cocktail glasses and 10 000 shot glasses.
”Just about the only things not made from ice are the speakers, the bottles and the lights,” Cussen said.
Customers, on payment of an entry fee, can opt to make use of ankle-length, polar-fleeced, hooded ponchos, as well as gloves and boots. ”With the poncho on, they should be able to stay comfortably for about 45 minutes,” said Cussen.
Blue foam cushions cover the bar stools and other seats ”not only to stop the cold from the ice, but also to stop the heat from the bums melting our furniture”.
Warm nibbles are served at the bar, although customers have to eat them ”as soon as they are brought out”, said Cussen. Beer and wine cannot be kept on the premises as it will freeze.
Ice for the drinks is, of course, no problem, and can be hacked from the counter if all else fails.
But, said Cussen, ”most drinks will not require ice, being served at about -10 degrees Celsius”.
The lounge will stay open until most holiday tourists vanish around April, whereafter all will be dismantled and taken away to melt in the African sun.
”We are hoping to make this an annual event,” Cussen said. ”This is a chance to introduce people to ice carving. Most people in Africa have never experienced this type of thing.” — Sapa-AFP