The remotely located research station as a building type has charted many interesting strategies for transportable and designed for assembly kits. Colonization advanced «high modernism» as an approach to building in unknown territories. Designing components and systems for delivery, assembly and durability in harsh and unforgiving environments imposes a separation from conventional onsite building methods. Buckminster Fuller’s Radomes, icons of the arctic North American defense DEW Line, were produced as a complete kit of parts from the south and erected over the frozen landscape. In industrial production, Misawa’s Antarctic research station shows in a similar way, how designing for isolation can stimulate innovation. The Japanese company developed a prototype for an easy to transport and construct structure. The research station demands a comprehensive strategy to determine every aspect of a building’s construction. From its earthworks to its mechanical systems, every element and subassembly must fit into an overall sequence as onsite construction in remote locations is unforgiving; it is impossible to adjust, locate or reproduce any missing pieces onsite.
Broghton Architect’s Halley Vi research station in Antarctica inaugurated in 2013 epitomizes the architectural experiment for an unpredictable environment. Built as a series of integrated functional volumetric modules, 180 meters in length, the string of research spaces is composed as a linear wall perpendicular to prevailing winds, which allows snow to drift under the elevated structure. Each module responds to a particular function. Divided in two, each half of the enfilade has its own power plant and could be used as emergency power in case of damage to one side of the structure. A bridge between the two halves could also quarantine each section in response to a particular shut down or glitch. The entire station is supported by telescopic ski foundations that can glide over the icy landscape and shift up or down vertically according to snow depths and climate conditions. As the ice shelf melts, the whole station can be pulled further inland. An insulated laminated composite GRP (glass fibre reinforced plastic) panel, a construction method associated with unforgiving climates, wraps the steel structure limiting any thermal bridging. The reticulated substructure supporting the modules and transferring loads to the skis is also entirely insulated from the interior spaces in a type of double skin configuration.
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| left: Radome, middle: Misawa research station, right: Halley Vi |
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