Ice powered freezer

I had a brainstorm the other night.  I'm not sure if this would work but I'll throw it out there and see what happens.

I'm imagining a heavily insulated small building that holds very cold ice.  A spot in the ice room will be available for storing frozen food.  The ice will keep it cold through the summer until it can be replenished the following winter.

Ice houses were common 150 years ago.  Their goal (as I understand it) was to keep ice below freezing so that it could be consumed year round.  I assume that if you cut a block of ice in the winter in Wisconsin (20F high, 0F low), the top of the block will be close to the average temp of that time of year. (10F)  But the bottom of the block will be 32F.  So on average, I think the block is halfway between 32 and 10 = 21F.  All that ice in the ice house only has 11 degrees to go before it starts melting.

By comparison, this freezer will use colder ice than "lake ice".   The idea is to collect lake ice and leave it out for a couple cold nights to bring the block's whole temperature down closer to zero.  Alternately, ice could be made in forms and frozen on site on those same cold nights.  Ice freezing could be arranged around the coldest nights of the winter.  Over the course of a couple weeks the ice freezer could be filled with this colder ice.  The freezer could even be opened to let the cold in on particularly cold nights.  Pipes could be plumbed in and out of the freezer as in a freezer wofati to allow for cooling on cold nights.

The result would be a bunch of ice that is closer to 0F and should make it through summer much more reliably.  And have some extra energy available to keep some venison summer sausage and green beans frozen.

The building could be a shipping container, box truck, reefer, or purpose built room.  I'm imagining something at least 650 cubic feet.  It would have two doors to create an entry vestibule.  It would be located in the shade.  The box could be sitting on straw bales and surrounded on all sides by bales.  They'd be finished with plaster or some other finish.  A roof would be suspended above it a bit.  Possibly the entry vestibule would be "refrigerator" temperature.  Possibly three doors would be needed to protect the fridge from hot August air when you go in to get your hot dogs.

Crazy?  Brilliant?  Who wants to build one and see how it works?

Thought about it a lot. I think you want to be below ground so the cold pools. And why haul ice? You can make it on the spot in suitable containers...2 liter bottles? 45 gal? Saves all that hauling and stacking.
You would just need airflow around your containers when the weather is cold enough to encourage heat transfer.. 2 l bottles standing.. sheet of plywood.. another layer of bottles... etc .. exhaust fan and just open the door when it gets cold outside.
Seems a perfect fit for the north side of your house.

I was thinking below ground at first, but then again, my ground is 44 degrees.  So while that helps things like greenhouses stay above freezing, it may not help an ice room stay around 10F.  

I agree, freezing in forms makes a lot of sense.  I have a lake across the street so hauling it could work for me.