MAINTAINING THE PERFECT TEMPERATURE FOR FROZEN ART
“Vietnamese Ice Sculptures Wow Ho Chi Minh City,” announced a local news headline in June, 2023. It heralded the opening of a spectacular exhibit at HCMC’s Dam Sen Cultural Park, where 1,000 tonnes of ice have been crafted into replicas of more than 20 iconic architectural masterpieces from around the world. These include the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum and the Statue of Liberty, as well as more local landmarks, such as the Ancient Citadel of Hue and the One Pillar Pagoda. They are atmospherically lit by 2,000 colourful LED lights.
The Ice Sculpture Garden, which cost around US$1.2m to create, has become a summer fixture in the city’s cultural calendar over the past decade, and its opening is much anticipated by local residents. The sculptures are each carved from a single ice block weighing around 100kg by artisans from the Chinese city of Harbin, which is famed for its own Ice Festival. They are assisted by more than 100 Vietnamese engineers and workmen, who labour tirelessly in temperatures ranging from -18C to -25C to create this miraculous ice world.
Once it’s opened to the public, the temperature of the Ice Sculpture Garden is regulated at between -10C and -15C, depending on the number of visitors. Guests are given warm clothing as they enter, and find plenty to entertain them: as well as the imposing sculptures, they can enjoy a ride on a reindeer sleigh, try out an eskimo igloo, or take a slide on a slippery bridge.
“As soon as I arrived, I was mesmerised, it surpassed my imagination,” was the verdict of one early visitor to the exhibit. “What truly captivated me were the ice sculptures. Each one is meticulously crafted.”
“I thought it would be a little bit chilly, but it’s actually freezing in here!” another laughed.
So how is the Ice Sculpture Garden’s temperature – in the middle of a city where the mercury rarely drops below 20C – maintained at the level of a crisp winter’s day in Scandinavia? If visitors look upwards, they can see the name of Güntner written on six Cubic VARIO Air Coolers.

The Cubic VARIO Air Coolers offer a perfect cooling solution for this challenge. As well as offering optimal air and sound level properties, its fans are maintenance-free and durable, and the unit is energy-efficient. All of these factors were important for refrigeration contractors Le Quoc Refrigeration Co when planning the cooling system for the Ice Sculpture Garden.
“For a project like this, the quality of the refrigeration equipment is crucial to ensure stable operation and system reliability,” says company director Tran Quoc Tam. “Güntner’s advanced technology and quality manufacturing ensured that we would have the highest possible quality refrigeration system.”
In addition to the Cubic VARIO Air Coolers. in the main exhibition hall, two Güntner Cubic COMPACT Air Coolers are also deployed in the rooms through which visitors enter and exit the exhibit. The aim here is to maintain a temperature of -5C and to prevent moisture from getting into the Ice Sculpture Garden.
The exhibit is set to keep wowing its visitors for some time to come.