Archinect - News

Summer's here in Antarctica — let's build!

2024-12-02T15:50:00-05:00

As the Northern Hemisphere approaches the winter season, construction activity on our southernmost continent has kicked into overdrive: More favorable summer temps have opened up a brief six-month window at the British Antarctic Survey's Rothera research station and operations hub, allowing for completion of the new 'Discovery Building' purpose-built scientific support facility.

Work at the Rothera site has brought together expertise from BAM, Ramboll, Sweco, GA Barnies, Turner and Townsend, and Hugh Broughton Architects.

The British Antarctic Survey's website describes the modernization efforts in more detail.

Previously on Archinect: Construction season begins for UK's largest Antarctic research hub

Construction season begins for UK's largest Antarctic research hub

2022-12-12T20:50:00-05:00

A six month construction season is set to begin at the United Kingdom’s largest Antarctic research and operations hub. Called the Rothera Research Station, it supports leading researchers in frontier science in the region.

This marks the start of the next phase of the British Antarctic Survey’s Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization Program (AIMP), which is part of the UK’s long-term plan to modernize its research facilities in the poles. Through a collaboration with construction services company BAM, engineering and design company Ramboll, and architecture firm Sweco, the project aims to provide polar science infrastructure that will enable the UK to deliver climate, biodiversity and ocean research, and innovation to Antarctica.

According to BAM, this season is expected to be the busiest and most challenging since the program began in 2017. This is especially pertinent given the small window that construction can take place in the region in order to avoid its harsh and dark winte...

Brief summer season allows construction on British Antarctic Survey's new Discovery Building

2021-01-14T13:53:00-05:00

The next stage of building a scientific support facility in Antarctica begins this week [...] A 20 person-plus team from BAS construction partners BAM, Ramboll and Sweco is working on the second season of building the cutting-edge science and operations building. Construction can only take place during a short window during the Antarctic summer months, avoiding the harsh, dark winter.

Antarctic architecture is finally taking shape

2020-01-10T15:01:00-05:00

Throughout the 20th century, architecture in Antarctica was a pragmatic and largely makeshift affair, focused on keeping the elements out and the occupants alive. [...] Construction in Antarctica, long the purview of engineers, is now attracting designer architects looking to bring aesthetics — as well as operational efficiency, durability and energy improvements — to the coldest neighborhood on Earth.

The NYT looks at the increasingly maturing architectural designs of Antarctic research stations, from early, highly pragmatic shelters to Britain’s now iconic Halley VI, designed by Hugh Broughton Architects, all the way to the brand new (and very nice looking) Brazilian Comandante Ferraz Research Station which opens this month.

Can architecture brace itself during the Polar Vortex? Here are 5 examples of structures designed to withstand freezing temperatures

2019-02-03T10:49:00-05:00

There's no way to sugar coat it, the Polar Vortex of 2019 has aggressively hit various parts of the world. As people have braced themselves for the cold and frigid temperatures, how does the harsh cold remind us of building more resilient structures? Chicago and many other areas in the U.S. have made headlines with its reaction to the Polar Vortex. Photos and videos of snow covered roads, icicle buildings, and frozen bodies of water have graced the media. Although these record-setting temperatures in the Midwest have made a substantial impact on several people, the solution to designing thermal resilient structures is nothing new in the world of architecture.

Several architects and designers have constructed buildings that were made to withstand some of the most extreme temperatures. Places that are prone to the cold like Antarctica and Norway are home to several structures built to withstand such extremes. Below are 5 examples and descriptions of buildings that can brace the cold.

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Antarctic architecture is getting snazzier

2017-01-13T12:35:00-05:00

Antarctic stations have become the equivalent of embassies on the ice.."They are showcases for a nation's interests in Antarctica - status symbols" says Prof Anne-Marie Brady, editor-in-chief of the Polar Journal and author of China as a Polar Great Power.

Matthew Teller reviews some of the latest designs for Antarctic research bases. At first, they were simple wooden huts, then later, "a few wooden huts inside giant steel tubes."

The aerodynamic triple-arm design of South Korea's Jang Bogo station. Image: EPA

British Antarctic Survey announces construction partner to modernize UK polar research facilities

2017-01-05T14:42:00-05:00

Construction expert BAM has been chosen to partner with British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to modernise UK Antarctic and other research facilities, enabling British scientists to continue delivering world class research into some of the most important issues facing our planet. [...] Commissioned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), this long-term UK partnership will last between 7-10 years and is worth an estimated £100m.

Construction near the South Pole comes with its own set of challenges which the winning bidder, BAM International, along with its UK arm, BAM Nuttall, promises to master with years of expertise in working in remote parts of the world.

The British Antarctic Survey's announcement yesterday went on to say:

"The Antarctic construction projects will present unique challenges given the continent is the highest, driest, coldest and windiest on Earth, and most construction work will need to be completed during the four month window of the Antarctic summer. Construction workers will live and work alongside science teams in harsh and remote environments, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures."

Architect Gustav Dusing selected for inagural Antarctic Biennial

2016-12-13T15:19:00-05:00

As part of the newly launched interdisciplinary Antarctic Biennial, architect Gustav Dusing and artist Sho Hasegawa will be sent to Antarctica in March 2017 for what could be described as an inspiring, if chilly, imaginative tabula rasa. The winners for the Biennial were chosen during this year's Art Basel Miami. As the website for the organization explains, "We are building a unique community of people who are interested in reimagining the future of shared spaces, beginning with Antarctic culture as a model for global development. With the artistic core, we are creating the platform for the interdisciplinary dialogue."

For more on ice-related architecture:

Forget it, Jake, it's Antarctica: nations jostle to establish influence at the world's end

2015-12-30T12:48:00-05:00

More than a century has passed since explorers raced to plant their flags at the bottom of the world, and for decades to come this continent is supposed to be protected as a scientific preserve, shielded from intrusions like military activities and mining. But an array of countries are rushing to assert greater influence here, with an eye not just toward the day those protective treaties expire, but also for the strategic and commercial opportunities that exist right now.

Water, oil, krill: Antarctica isn't just an ice-locked science station any longer, but a giant potential resource center hotly pursued by several strategic-thinking nations. Is the pursuit of scientific inquiry being stripped away in favor of the extraction of raw materials? Um, it would appear so, at least according to this New York Times article which predicts changes in the Europe-plus-sized continent's status: "The treaty banning mining here, shielding coveted reserves of iron ore, coal and chromium, is expected to come up for review by 2048 and could be challenged before then."

Halley VI Antarctic research station opens February 5

2013-01-31T19:52:00-05:00

When Hugh Broughton Architects won a design competition for the Halley VI Antarctic research station, which officially opens on February 5, the small London-based office had no experience working in extreme environments. But its proposal, developed with engineer AECOM, impressed the jury both for its technical ingenuity and its understanding that for up to 50 scientists, this inhospitable place is home.