architecture projects

Brazilian Research Base in Antarctica

PROJECT INFO

Location
Peninsula Keller, Antarctica

Status
Project

Client
Brazilian Navy

Type
Research Center

Size
3.500 sq. meters

Other Features
Pre-fab Construction

Energy Efficiency Control

Environmental Research

The project was conceived with the need for rapid construction in adverse climatic conditions in mind, leading to a design based on a rigorous modulation system..

The idea for the module was created in a way that the project as a whole was thought of in terms of construction and assembly, where it is able to fulfill the most rigorous requirements of pre-fabrication and, consequentially, expedite the construction process.

The primary organization in the complex is dictated through a longitudinal connecting walkway. It serves to connect the multiple functions in the station, operating as a routine circulation element.

The guiding principle of our proposal was not the action to build and occupy, but the concern to respect the polar world, understand the nature in its fullness, to mimic in the landscape and, finally, the challenge of building without showcasing our presence.

This project presents a harmonic formal composition, built from the spatial organization of a main form, the cube. This harmony is valorized through the implantation on the site, which privileges the most flat part of the terrain, on the area that has been already compromised with the previous construction.