Students:
Lisa Cumming (New Zealand),
Jorge Mendéz-Caceres (Puerto Rico),
Drew Merkle (United States),
Nada Taryam (UAE)
Tutor: Theodore Spyropoulos
Description:
Based in Antarctica, we are proposing a meteorological research institute. The site of our project is the basis for our research typology and programmatic decisions. Existing scientific research infrastructures generate large amounts of data that is politically and nationally neutral, enabled by the sharing of research data and tasks, projecting atmospheric phenomena on a larger scale. Since Antarctica is an extreme environment with extreme seasonal changes, it requires an adaptable architecture, responsive to these difficult conditions and terrain. In overcoming architectural issues inherent to Antarctica’s environment, our facility is comprised of migrating zooids, predominantly airborne at 500m above ground. This intentionally places our system above the prevalent Katabatic winds where the weather is clearer, warmer and calmer, and overcomes the lack of mobility due to ground conditions that current typologies fail to address. We propose this light, adaptive model as the ‘ani-model’, in response to our anti-model that is the existing typology of research facilities currently deployed on the continent. Being airborne places the researchers physically in the segment of atmosphere they are investigating, offering an easier deployment of research vehicles and instrumentation. Reaching as high as 15km above ground, where the ozone is situated and back down to sea level, the project accesses an integrated data set from ice-core to Stratosphere.
