There is a part of the planet often left off our maps. An inhospitable wasteland seemingly void of utility to our human progress. Yet as Earth’s climate warms and we hurry to understand its result on civilizations across the globe, so too Antarctica’s value is beginning to emerge.
'Polar Embassy' is a strategic design for a deploy-able research station in West Antarctica investigating the pragmatic demands, experiential promise and necessary collaboration of deep field exploration.
In a place inhospitable enough to elude man’s capture, Antarctica poses now, as it did a century ago, fundamental questions of sustainability.
Data lodged in its ice teases us with patterns of past climate systems, while the most severe conditions on Earth command the terms of our efforts to extract them.
This project provides a brief introduction to the continent in the hope of unraveling the latent role of architecture within the environmental and political forces that govern it.
Through the charting of its early discovery, anatomical delineation and territorial claim, it becomes clear that the esteemed idiosyncrasy of Antarctica’s natural
landscape is rivaled only by the oddity of the international cooperation that protects it.
In light though, of an expiring diplomacy, 'Polar Embassy' asks how an architectural project that withstands the extremes and sustains research efforts can also reinvigorate a global cooperation.
In Antarctica there are challenges to which Architects are adept to respond. Whether in small-scale masterplanning of the larger stations, or considered operational design of remote field camps where researchers are most vulnerable to the elements.
On Thwaites Glacier, the necessity for increased scientific activity presents the predicament of finding a way to shelter and sustain remote research on a year-round basis. It is here that lies the root of my design proposal.
'The Polar Embassy' should be first and foremost, of compact design dimension. All elements of the proposed structure should fit within the space allowance of the C-130 Hercules Cargo hold. This is the largest freight vehicle to currently venture to the region.
In response to the observed debris created by such camps, 'Polar Embassy’s' strategy is one of simple deployment and easy removal. Secondly, the proposal should creatively respond to the threat of both wind and snow accumulation in order that their intensive daily management be omitted.
The project’s skin must insure a suitable thermal comfort for the occupants while also privileging the natural lighting of interiors.
The bi-seasonal daylight conditions of polar habitation offer an abundant sunlight in summer with which to cultivate ultraviolet rays, and a sustained darkness in winter within which to explore synthetic illumination.
In response to the context’s alien environmental order, the project might hope to capture and celebrate the preciously described experience that is has to offer.
A two-part concept pairs a prefabricated, hard-shell structure with an inflatable, composite membrane.
Buried over the course of a few years, these rooms would then benefit from the buffer and insulation of a visible, stratified snow shell.
While resilient to thrust and down force in its geometry, the inflatable will resist the gale-force winds with the tethering of its counterpart.
The anchor serves as a mainframe for logistical services. Its aerodynamic shell deflects wind away from its edge and insures a symmetrical interment of the adjacent room. A sloping roof lined with solar cells harness the 24h sun, meanwhile air compressors capture gusts at its front.
Ventilated passively and powered electrically, an inbuilt hotplate provides endless potable snowmelt. Housing a small kitchen and bathroom, the anchor’s entrance hatch securely bridges indoor and out.
The proposal’s design offers an armature within which a flexible internal layout can accommodate lab equipment, recreation space, hydroponic planting, ice coring as well as storage and staging space.
With a seasonal shift of the anchor, new inflated rooms are sequenced to ensure adequate facilities and a continued access to the first.
Over time, the camp’s interconnected trail of partially and completely submerged rooms make up a spine of deep field research activity and constitute an evocative illustration of the environmental dynamics of the glacier.
In its basic modulation, 'Polar Embassy' invites a changing authorship that exploits the international interest of its research matter and secures a shared management between Treaty Members.
