WIRED's instructions for a heatwave are to find a cool place and stay there. Preferably with WiFi. But finding such a place is not straightforward.
Fortunately, we've done the research for you and have found nine places across the capital that are cool enough to provide you with some respite from the heat, but still give you a slice of the WIRED life.
1. Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre has been designed to have minimum impact on the environment -- and as such is extremely efficient when it comes to keeping heat both in and out. The cocoon within the structure is built from concrete and acts as a heat reservoir keeping the collections inside at a stable temperature.
The glazing on the west side of the building has been etched, which reduces the amount of the sun's heat that gets inside.
2. Icebar
Perhaps the most obvious answer to anyone asking where to chill out on the hottest of days is London's Icebar, which is kept at -5 degrees celsius all year round. Everything in the Icebar, including the glasses you drink out of are made out of ice and you will be so chilly that you'll have to wear both a fur-lined cape and thermal gloves.
3. Billingsgate Market
Billingsgate Fish Market in East London is the UK's largest inland fish market. You might presume that it would get pretty stinky on a day like this, but inside the 13-acre complex are areas designed especially to keep the fish nice and cool, and the stench to a minimum.
There are myths that once upon a time there existed underneath the market a seven-storey deep frozen storage facility, filled with compacted ice. It's not there, but there's still plenty of cool areas to be found. As well as a number of cold rooms, the market boats a 1,500-tonne freezer store, as well as its own ice-making plant.
4. The Canal Museum's Ice Wells
In the days before ice could be made artificially by anybody with a freezer, it had to be imported from natural sources and stored for as long as possible. In London, commercial ice wells were built to hold the ice, and the only wells to which there is still any degree of public access today are at the city's Canal Museum.
These particular ice wells were built in 1857 and 1862 by Swiss entrepreneur Carlo Getti and were in use until 1904. Visitors to the Canal Museum (it's only £4 to go) can't actually go into the wells, but they can see one of them from above when they are inside the former ice warehouse the museum is housed in.
5. K Spa's Snow Paradise
K-West's K Spa is one of the most luxurious and highly revered in London, but crucially it is also home to the city's first 'Snow Paradise'. This cabin, chilled to -15 degrees celsius, is supposedly reminiscent of a snow drift. It is designed to be part of the spa's hot-cold therapy, but on a day like today, hot therapy comes for free courtesy of nature, so stick with the cold.
6. Gentoo penguin enclosure at the London Sealife Aquarium
London Aquarium's Ice Experience is its attempt to recreate Antarctic conditions for the sake of its family of gentoo penguins. The aquarium has worked with the British Antarctic Survey to create an environment "that will transport guests to a research station in the coldest and most inhospitable place on earth". Gentoo penguins thrive in such conditions, and on a day like today, so will otherwise wilting humans.
7. Cold laboratories, Queen Mary University London Blizard Institute
Universities across London have cold rooms for storage, but QMUL also has cold laboratories where experiments may be carried out at four degrees celsius, which on a day like today sounds perfect. It's never too late to sign up for higher education.
8. Alexandra Palace Ice Rink
Heat induces lethargy, which can be frustrating if you're a naturally active type. A great solution to this is to head to an ice rink. Many of London's ice rinks are seasonal, and only available in the winter season, but Ally Pally's is open all year. If you're a night owl, you can even avoid sweaty club nights and instead head to Ice Nation, a disco on ice.
9. Vertical Chill
In the basement of Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports in Covent Garden is hidden the entrance to a two-storey refrigerated unit that allows climbers to learn and practice winter climbing techniques. Ice is shipped in from Snow Dome complexes and temperature inside range from -5 to -12 degrees celsius. It might sound intimidating, but in fact beginners are welcome, so no excuses.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
