The first 29 igloos of the Santa’s Hotels glass igloo village, located within the Arctic Circle only a couple of kilometers from Rovaniemi Airport, were commissioned in December 2016. By Christmas 2017, there will be a total of 71 igloos in use. Main building with reception and restaurant facilities will be constructed at the same time.
Lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, and window and floor heating systems of the igloos are connected to ABB i-bus® KNX. Every igloo will have a high-speed optical fiber connection. All functions can be controlled remotely from the hotel reception.
The customer wanted centralized control and monitor system and easy view from the Igloos to reception, as well as an energy saving solution. If some of the igloos are not occupied during the day, it is possible to automatically adjust room temperature as well as lights etc.
Igloos also have a very complex heating and cooling solution and an outside temperature sensor for roof window heating. Temperature difference (inside and outside) can be over 50 °C.
The idea in the design stage was to automate all the everyday routines. For instance, being able to switch the window heating systems for all igloos on and off in one place saves the staff time because all the functions can be controlled from an info screen at reception.
The heating resistors on the outside of the glass roof remove frost from the glass and melt any snow and ice on the roof so that the Northern Lights can be seen all the time for customers.
Another important design criterion was to save energy. When all 71 igloos are in use, even small energy savings amount to a lot over the course of a year. With the help of automation, energy consumption can be lowered to the minimum when there are no customers. During the winter, the igloos are not heated unnecessarily, and in the summer, they are not cooled.”