Archigram fans, brace yourselves. As much as this project looks like a collaboration between the ’60s British pop architecture collective and some Japanese vinyl toy makers, this brightly colored train of four-legged behemoths is actually the world’s first mobile research facility. Designed by UK-based Hugh Broughton Architects in conjunction with engineers at AECOM, the Halley VI Antarctic Research Station consists of eight interlinking modules, which altogether contain 20,000 square feet of laboratories and living accommodations for about 50 scientists, as Architectural Record reports. The bright red module houses a communal space designed to fend off extreme-weather-induced depression and stress.
The herd of structures is currently located on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, meaning this “Walking City” (Ron Herron’s version pictured right) won’t be walking very far. Nor is it actually meant to walk at all: The modules are designed with ski-like “feet” that allow the station to be towed by tractors over a prepared ice track in the event that it needs to be relocated inland. The design’s extendable legs also allow the station to elevate above predictably high levels of ice build-up over time, obviating a problem that spelled the early demises of previous Halley stations.
Research done on one of Halley VI’s predecessors led to the 1985 discovery of the ozone hole, one of the many environmental oopsy-daisys we laugh nervously about as we deal with devastating hurricanes and strangely warm winters interspersed with freak snowstorms.
Photos courtesy the architects.
- Kelly Chan
