Antarctic Research Stations: Halley VI, Princess Elisabeth and Jang Bogo

Building in Antarctica means designing for hurricane-force winds, months of darkness, drifting snow and ice that moves under your feet. The research stations shown here, all featured in the touring exhibition Ice Lab: New Architecture and Science in Antarctica, answer those problems in strikingly different ways, from a British base that walks on skis to a Belgian station that runs on wind and sun.

Ice Lab: Antarctic architecture on tour

Ice Lab was commissioned by the British Council and curated by The Arts Catalyst, and it opened at The Lighthouse in Glasgow in the summer of 2013 before touring internationally. It brought together drawings, models, photographs and films of five projects: Halley VI (United Kingdom), Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (Belgium), Bharati (India), Jang Bogo (South Korea) and the speculative Iceberg Living Station (Denmark). The exhibition was designed by the London collective We Made That, with science topics such as ice-core drilling alongside the buildings.

Halley VI: the station on skis

Halley VI, run by the British Antarctic Survey, sits on the Brunt Ice Shelf beside the Weddell Sea. Floating ice shelves flow towards the sea and bury anything left standing, which is why earlier Halley bases were eventually abandoned. The winning design by Hugh Broughton Architects and Faber Maunsell, chosen in 2005, solves this with a string of eight modules raised on hydraulic legs. The legs can be jacked up above accumulating snow, and giant retractable skis let the whole station be towed to a new site.

That feature was put to the test in 2016–17, when a spreading crack in the ice shelf forced the British Antarctic Survey to move the station 23 km inland. Halley VI produced its first data in February 2012 and was officially opened on 5 February 2013, at a cost of around £26 million. Its science has a famous pedigree: measurements from the earlier Halley base led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985.

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica: a zero-emission base

Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth station opened on 15 February 2009 on the Utsteinen Nunatak in Queen Maud Land, at about 1,382 metres above sea level. Designed and built by the International Polar Foundation, it was conceived as the first zero-emission station on the continent. Nine wind turbines line the Utsteinen ridge, and solar panels feed a smart micro-grid with batteries and backup generators. The building is anchored into the permafrost against the ridge and engineered to withstand winds of up to 300 km/h. It houses up to 16 scientists at a time during the summer season.

Bharati: India’s container-built station

Bharati stands in the Larsemann Hills on Prydz Bay, on the East Antarctic coast, and has been operational since 18 March 2012. It is run by India’s National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research. The building, designed by the German practice bof architekten, uses shipping containers as an integral part of its structure, and India was reportedly the first country to build an Antarctic station this way. Bharati can host up to 72 people: 47 in the main building year-round and 25 more in summer shelters.

Jang Bogo: South Korea’s base at Terra Nova Bay

Jang Bogo Station is South Korea’s first permanent base on the Antarctic mainland, built at Terra Nova Bay in the Ross Sea region, close to Italy’s Zucchelli Station. Designed by Space Group and operated by the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), it was built by Hyundai Engineering and Construction and opened on 12 February 2014. The 4,000-square-metre building has three wings and sleeps 62 people in summer and 23 over the winter. The photographs here show it during construction.

Iceberg Living Station: a speculative idea

The fifth project is a concept. David A. Garcia of MAP Architects in Denmark imagined the Iceberg Living Station as a subterranean base made of compacted snow, using the polar environment itself as building material. Next to the four working stations, it shows where Antarctic architecture might go next. Inside every one of these buildings, the everyday rooms matter as much as the laboratories: shared kitchens, lounges and bright colours help small crews stay healthy and productive through long seasons far from home.

More from the ice: a station doorway during severe weather and architecture framing a different snowy landscape.

Related reading

• Antarctic Fieldwork in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Alex Mass’s Gallery
• Lake Hodgson: Microbial Evidence from Antarctic Sediments
• Antarctic Sea Ice: Understanding an Older Growth Story
• The Ilulissat Calving Sequence in Chasing Ice
• Antarctic Icebergs in Motion: Drift, Collapse and Meltwater

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