An old public sports field in Juuka has been taken over by 60 students from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Their goal is to test building methods they have developed to create an ice dome with an internal diameter of 30 meters and a height of 10 metres.
The dome is being built of fibre-reinforced ice known as "pykrete", in this case a mixture ice and sawdust that is being sprayed over an inflated plastic mold. The lower four metres of the dome is made of the mixture and the upper section of pure ice.
The purpose of the project is not just to set a new world's record. The students also want to show that ice reinforced with sawdust is a quick-to-use, low-cost building material for temporary structures like ice hotels, halls for the storage of agricultural crops or for the offshore industry.
The biggest ice dome up to now, with a diameter of 25 meters, was built in Japan in 2001. According to the organisers, if the experiment is a success it may open the way to building domes with diameters as large as 100 metres.
The Dutch students, along with local volunteers, are working around the clock in the hopes of completing the dome in time for a scheduled grand opening on Saturday 18 January.
A webcam has been set up showing the work in progress (may require page refresh to update image).