There was an interesting post a while back on Wired documenting six research stations on the Antarctic. Author Andrew Blum highlights the difficulties of building in such an extreme environment; a place where the ice below a station can move the station half a mile a year and snow drifts can rise two stories high. Its well worth a visit to see the inventive pieces of technology and building forms used to adapt to these less than ideal conditions. Today’s first image is of a mobile station capable of being dragged back to its original coordinate location every year follow the shifts in the ice plates below. The final image highlights an older project built by the South African’s in 1997. This station utilizes the low-fi technique of choosing an optimal terrain location to avoid rising snow drifts, rather than employing the current hi-fi technology of hydraulic lifts to raise the entire structure up several stories. For more visit Andrew’s article on Wired.
(originally seen via mammoth)
IM Design 