When it opens at the base of Norway’s pristine Svartisen glacier just below the Arctic Circle, the Svart hotel—slated for 2022—aims to be entirely energy-positive, meaning it will produce more energy than it uses. Currently being built in Norway’s northern Meløy municipality, the hotel offers a panoramic view of the surrounding Holandsfjorden fjord. Its sleek, circular structure also employs a solar panel–clad roof that uses the sun’s energy throughout the days and seasons to power the hotel’s operations.
The remote nature surrounding the Svart hotel can only be accessed by boat.
Courtesy of Snøhetta Plompmozes Miris
Designed by award-winning Norwegian architect firm Snøhetta (the team behind the world’s largest underwater restaurant in Norway), Svart is largely inspired by a Norwegian fiskehjell, a wooden structure used to dry fish, and a rorbue, a fisherman’s traditional seasonal home. The environmentally friendly hotel is elevated above water by criss-crossing poles made of natural wood, which are intended to blend into the environment and place a minimal footprint on the surroundings.
The 99-room hotel will include four restaurants with locally inspired tasting menus ranging from rustic to gourmet, with many dishes using produce grown at the sustainable farm on-site. Guests can also enjoy a variety of traditional Norwegian treatments, including massages and facials with sustainable, locally sourced products at Svart’s 3,300-square-foot indoor-outdoor spa.
The name “Svart,” meaning “black” in Norwegian, is a direct tribute to the deep blue ice of Norway’s Svartisen glacier.
Courtesy of Snøhetta Plompmozes Miris
Svart says the hotel will harvest enough solar energy to cover both the daily operations and the energy needed to construct the building. What’s more: The hotel says it will continue to work to achieve carbon-neutrality and zero-waste status, going completely off-grid within its first five years of operation.
When it opens in 2022, overnight guests and day-trippers will be welcome to enjoy the property, and everyone will arrive the same way: Via an energy-neutral boat shuttle that will bring visitors to the remote hotel from the nearby city of Bodø.
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