Modular Production Makes Antarctic Research Possible

In 2005, Hugh
Broughton Architects and engineering giant AECOM won an international
competition to build the Halley VI base for the British Antarctic Survey. On
February 5, 2013, it officially opened.

© Hugh Broughton Architect

Building in Antarctica is
tough; snow eventually buries almost anything you build. Halley Base V was
built on extendible stilts, but after 20 years they were encased in 75 feet of
ice and couldn’t work anymore. The Base is also built on a moving ice shelf, so
the buildings really have to move horizontally as well as vertically.

Hugh Broughton solved the problem by building an
Archigram-like walking city. The architect explains:

To avoid the fate of previous abandoned stations, the
modules are supported on giant steel skis and hydraulically driven legs. The
hydraulic legs allow the station to mechanically “climb” up out of the snow
every year to avoid being buried. And as the ice shelf moves out towards the
ocean, the modules can be lowered onto the skis and towed by bulldozers to a
new safer location further inland. The new Halley VI can therefore continue to
respond to the changing needs of Antarctic science for many more years than its
projected design life.

© Hugh Broughton Architect

It is also very green; the architect continues:

Halley VI is the most environmentally friendly facility that
BAS has built. Low on environmental impact during construction, with an
extremely efficient, environmentally aware performance life cycle, it can be
easily moved and eventually taken apart when the time comes. Halley VI will be
a visitor to Antarctica, not a resident. The
buildings rest entirely on the surface of the ice shelf. This mobility and
flexibility means that the new station will survive and perform on the ice for
far longer than any of its distinguished predecessors. The design provides
flexibility for the station to be adapted, rearranged and relocated.

It’s also fun; The red module has a hydroponic salad garden,
a climbing wall, it’s lined with aromatic cedar and the colours are
“refreshing and stimulating.”

© Hugh Broughton Architect

“It has been a fascinating project,” says architect Hugh
Broughton, “because it combines microscopic examples of many different building
types – an operating theater, air traffic control, a power plant – rolled into
20,000 square feet.”

Like space and underwater exploration, there are so many
lessons to be learned here that can be applied to conventional living: Living
with (a lot) less, small space multifunction design, building to last, not to
mention good insulation. Perhaps we will see walking cities closer to home soon.