Glaciers + Music + Architecture = Ice Swan.
Ice Swan is a beautiful bottled water from the glaciers and waterfalls of Chile's Patagonia region packaged in an equally beautiful bottling plant designed by Panorama Architects. To add to the intrigue, it is processed in a very unusual manner, the harvesting and bottling of the water is imbued with classical music and natural sounds of Patagonia's habitat because, according to Dr. Masaru Emoto, a world-renowned researcher, water has memory and sensitivity to sound.
Origin:
Ice Swan is bottled in its place of origin. It is a nature's gift from a strand of more than seven ancient majestic glaciers and multiple waterfalls situated in the 'Coastal Temperate Rain Forest' of The Chilean Patagonia, one of the five most pristine regions on earth.
From ancient fjords on the planet's southernmost terrain, Ice Swan's smooth 'mouth feel' and delicate flavor will refresh and satisfy even the most demanding/refined palates. Ice Swan is for the savvy and demanding connoisseurs who prefer the kind of products that set trends and leave an overwhelming feeling of wellness.
Bottle Design:
Ice Swan's bottle is an original creation from award-winning Chilean designer Sebastián Errázuriz, whose talent is trend setting in NYC, where he currently resides. The bottle's teardrop shape represents the fluidity and elegance of a slender-necked swan.
Music:
Joakin Bello, outstanding composer, performer and researcher, has put all his talent to create Ice Swan´s sonorous universe, a soft melody which flows like the waters of the Queulat Fjord.
above: the speakers in the bottling plant
It is about an original musical piece based on strings, bronze and synthesizers, in different versions; a clear example of what he himself has denominated as "Total Music".
To preserve Ice Swan's original essence, they imbue their harvesting and bottling process with classical music and natural sounds of Patagonia's habitat. When tested at the Masaru Emoto Institute in Japan, water samples of Ice Swan produced wonderful hexagonal crystals that reveal the water's exceptional quality, purity and perfection.
above: an Ice Swan water molecule
The Bottling Plant:
The building is a square volume of 18 by 18 meters and 6 meters height with its four facades clad in toughened glass with a black opaque coating. The building is set on top of a 1.5 meter tapered soil base to avoid floods of the nearby river in winter. Because of the weather conditions glass offered a good skin solution plus the reflections of the surroundings, on the other hand the steel structure which is bolted was thought to ensure recycling as much as possible.
Designed by Constanza Hagemann and Nicolás Valdés of Panorama Architects, the end result is a balanced and vanguardist building that is environmentally friendly.
The architects were asked to design a building with the function of bottling water from a cascade which is formed by a glacier. The cascade is visible from the site that is situated at the border of Queulat National Park in Patagonia, 3 hours away from Coyhaique, the nearest city.
Regarding the building, they decided to propose a construction that would depend on its context to reduce to the maximum its presence in the Patagonian landscape; this is how reflection was the most asserted principle to work on. Reflection as the ornament and presence.
The situation of harsh climate conditions and isolation compromised the material and construction logistic decisions to secure its construction quality and aging.
Inside the bottling plant:
The interior is organized in two areas, each related to a different scale. The area of the bottling process utilizes the height of the industry and the rest of the office programs are disposed in wood modules of lower height.
The Ice Swan Myth:
Ice Swan takes its name from the cosmogony of patagonian communities, the first ones to dwell there. The legend tells they were a group of native kawesqar women that died by taking side with the 'Sister Moon' against the 'Brother Sun' turning into swans that flew up to the moon. They called them ice swans, believing these became winged spirits of the glaciers, which now is the place of origin of Ice Swan's water.
Physiochemical Properties
Of utmost purity and a delicate millenary taste, our water naturally flows from glacier thaws, snowdrifts and eternal snows from the untouched region of the chilean patagonia. Our water is bottled with classical music in our facilities in order to preserve its extraordinary genuine properties, following the theories of Dr. Masaru Emoto.
Ice Swan: Chile (Patagonia)
Virginality:
Tds: 12 Mlg (Super low minerality)
Hardness: 1 Mlg (Soft)
Ph: 6,7 - 7,3 (Neutral Orientation)
Calcium: 2,99 Mlg
Nitrate: 1 Mlg (Superior Virginality)
Sodium: Sodium Free
Magnesium: 1 Mlg
images and info courtesy of Ice Swan and Panorama Arquitectos
Ice Swan
You can purchase Ice Swan Water here or at other fine bottled water retailers.
