World’s first mobile research centre opens in Antarctica

News: the world’s first mobile research facility, designed by British firm Hugh Broughton Architects, has officially opened on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

World's first mobile research facility opens in Antarctica

Above: photography by Hugh Broughton Architects
Top: photograph by station chef Antony Dubber

The Halley VI Antarctic Research Station is designed to be relocated inland to avoid being stranded on an iceberg as the ice shelf drifts towards the sea. Huge tractors towed the modules on their ski-like feet over a prepared ice track to their current site.

Designed by Hugh Broughton Architects with AECOM and constructed by Galliford Try for the British Antarctic Survey, the £25.8 million station is built to withstand extreme winter weather and is raised on hydraulically elevated feet to stay above the many metres of expected snowfall.

World's first mobile research facility opens in Antarctica

Above: photograph by British Antarctic Survey

Seven interlinking blue modules comprise the laboratories, offices, energy plants and bedrooms, while a central two-storey red module provides a social space.

The station will be home to up to 52 crew members in summer and just 16 in the three winter months of total darkness, when temperatures drop as low as -56C.

World's first mobile research facility opens in Antarctica

Above: photograph by Hugh Broughton Architects

A trial assembly of the station took place in 2007 in Cape Town, South Africa, after which it was dismantled and shipped to Antarctica. The complexities of assembling the structure in such a harsh environment meant the station has only just become fully operational, in time for the arrival of its summer crew.

The new centre replaces the 20-year-old Halley V facility and is the sixth to be built on the Brunt Ice Shelf, a 100m-thick area of ice against the Weddell Sea. Data collected from an earlier Halley station led to the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985.

World's first mobile research facility opens in Antarctica

Above: photo by Sam Burrell

This is the first project in Antarctica we’ve featured on Dezeen, but we have reported on plans for an airport in the Arctic Circle and a hotel made of ice in northern Sweden.

Last year we featured Hugh Broughton Architects’ golden extension to a Tudor-style museum in Maidstone, England.

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Here’s the press release from the architects:


World’s first re-locatable research centre officially opens in Antarctica

Hugh Broughton Architects

Halley VI Antarctic Research Station – the world’s first re-locatable research facility – officially opens today, signalling a new dawn for 21st Century polar research. Opening one hundred years after Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic expeditions, the new state-of-the-art research facility demonstrates the UK’s ambition to remain at the forefront of scientific endeavour.

Halley VI Antarctic Research Station is designed by Hugh Broughton Architects with AECOM and constructed by Galliford Try for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The project demonstrates an ability to create ground-breaking architecture characterised by a compelling concept, executed with fastidious attention to detail and exemplary levels of coordination. Pushing the boundaries of design in a life critical environment, it creates a beacon for sustainable living in the Polar Regions to draw attention to some of the most significant science conducted on our planet.

It is the product of an extraordinary and intense 8-year collaboration with BAS which began with an international competition-winning design for a modular facility. The challenge was to create excellent laboratory and living accommodation that was capable of withstanding extreme winter weather, of being raised sufficiently to stay above metres of annual snowfall, and of being relocated inland periodically to avoid being stranded on an iceberg as the floating ice shelf moves towards the sea.

The new research station, which replaces the 20-year old Halley V facility, is the sixth to be built on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in a region that has established itself as an important natural laboratory for studying the Earth’s magnetic field and the near-space atmosphere. It was data from Halley that led to the 1985 BAS discovery of the ozone hole.

The £25.8 million station is built with an innovative concept featuring hydraulically elevated ski based modules, ensuring the station can be relocated inland periodically as the ice shelf flows towards the sea. The station combines seven interlinking blue modules used for bedrooms, laboratories, offices and energy plants, with a central two-storey red module featuring a double-height light filled social space. Interiors have been specially designed to support crew numbers ranging from 52 in summer to 16 during the three months of total darkness in winter when temperatures at the base drop as low as -56C.

Speaking at an event in London to celebrate the opening of the new station UK Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts says:

“The new Halley Research Station is a triumph of British design, innovation and engineering. The UK’s world-class polar science community now has a unique, cutting edge suite of laboratories on the ice. The legacy of Captain Scott, together with our strong track record of scientific discovery in Antarctica, is set to continue in this excellent new facility.”

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opens in Antarctica
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Maidstone Museum East Wingby Hugh Broughton Architects

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

A blanket of golden shingles clads the new wing that London studio Hugh Broughton Architects have added to a Tudor-style museum in Maidstone, England.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Open since the end of March, the East Wing and new entrance block slot into the recesses of the sixteenth century brick building, which was converted from a manor house into a museum over 150 years ago.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

The copper-alloy exterior is interspersed with large panels of glazing to create views in towards the lower ground floor entrance lobby and shop, as well as into a new public meeting room.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

The rear of the building steps up to meet the sloping ground level of the public gardens just behind, while the windows of this elevation reveal the interior facades of a courtyard enclosed between the extension and the refurbished existing galleries.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

North-facing rooflights bring even levels of natural daylight into the one of the east wing’s three new galleries, which together will display some of the museum’s 600,000 artefacts.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Other buildings with a similar copper alloy exterior include a visual arts centre and a public librarySee a selection here.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Photography is by Hufton + Crow.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Here’s some more text from Hugh Broughton Architects:


Maidstone Museum East Wing: new ‘gold’ clad extensions hint at treasures inside

Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery has re-opened following an extensive £3 million refurbishment and the addition of a new east wing by Hugh Broughton Architects.

Clad with ʻgoldʼ shingles which hint at the museumʼs collection of ʻtreasuresʼ on display inside, the new East Wing provides the museum with a reinvigorated look making it the cultural focus for the town centre.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Housing a collection of over 600,000 artifacts and specimens that are outstanding in their diversity and quality, Maidstone Museum forms the largest mixed collection in Kent and one of the largest in the South-East of England.

Hugh Broughton Architectsʼ 2006 RIBA competition-winning architectural scheme transforms the museumʼs display, storage and visitor facilities, allowing more of the collection to be accessed.

The core of Maidstone Museum, a Grade II listed building located within the boundaries of a conservation area, is a Tudor manor house dating from 1561. The building was acquired by Maidstone Borough Council in 1855 and opened as a Museum in 1858. Since then it has been subject to numerous expansions, resulting in an eclectic architectural arrangement.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

The East Wing project forms the second phase of the Museumʼs re- development programme, following the renovation of the West Wing in 2003. The aims of the project have been three-fold including the long-term preservation of the museumʼs collection, increase in visitor numbers and greater public involvement.

The scheme improves storage facilities, brings previously inaccessible spaces into use and allows more of the Museumʼs historic buildings to be experienced. The East Wing provides new gallery spaces, which enable more of the collections to be seen. The provision of new and improved services including a shop, new toilets with baby-changing facilities and cloakroom, ease visitor circulation throughout the building and enhance the visitor experience.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

The East Wing responds to the multilayered history and architecture of the museum. The elevations combine frameless glazing with a diagrid of copper alloy shingles, creating a contemporary counterpoise to the existing brick facades. The copper alloy shingles emulate the diamond leaded glass windows of the original Tudor building and have been individually hand cut and crafted on site, enhancing the artisanal qualities of the Museum.

A new entrance on the East elevation welcomes visitors from Maidstone High Street into the new East Wing. The entrance opens into an open plan foyer and orientation area occupied by Maidstoneʼs Visitor Information Centre and the Museum shop.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Beyond the foyer and shop a multi-functional education suite brings areas previously occupied by storage into lively public use, creating a designated study area for community groups and schools.
At ground floor level the principal public space in the East Wing is a gallery housing one of the museumʼs noteworthy exhibits – a Solomon Islands war canoe, the only example of its kind outside of the Islands. Glazing on the rear wall of this gallery reveals a public courtyard and Tudor facades unseen by the public for over 40 years.

At first floor level a public meeting room housed in a glazed box offers dramatic views of St. Faithʼs Church which visually re-connects the museum with Brenchley Gardens, fulfilling the ambitions of the Museumʼs Victorian founders. A system of bespoke connectors between the glass and steel structure ensures a completely frameless flush glazed finish.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Click above for larger image

The new Japanese Gallery is located within the copper clad space above the reception. It is lit by an undulating ceiling of north-facing rooflights, which enliven the white cube space and ensure an even stream of daylight in to the gallery. This gallery is the new permanent home for one of the museumʼs highlights, an internationally significant display of Japanese Art collected in the nineteenth century by one of the Museumʼs founders, Julius Brenchley.

In addition to these new galleries, the existing galleries in the original museum have been refurbished and re-organised, increasing the display space by 30%.

Beyond the public spaces, the practice has worked closely with the museum staff to completely overhaul and modernize the storage spaces, increasing the capacity by 100%, and improving security and accessibility. This process has allowed the museumʼs staff to take stock and reorganize exhibits in storage, taking the opportunity to digitize and hone the full collection.

Maidstone Museum East Wing by Hugh Broughton Architects

Click above for larger image

Projects facts
Address: Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery St. Faithʼs Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1LH
Construction value: £3m (including a £2m grant from Heritage Lottery Fund)
Gross internal area: 1150 sq m (470 sq m new build / 680 sq m refurbishment)

Project credits
Client: Maidstone Borough Council
Architect: Hugh Broughton Architects
Project director: Hugh Broughton
Project architect: Gianluca Rendina
Structural Engineer: AECOM
Services Engineer: AECOM
Quantity Surveyor: GB Fitzsimon
Building Contractor: Morgan Sindall
Lighting Consultant: AECOM
Security Consultant: AECOM
Health & Safety: AECOM
Japanese Gallery Design (Concept): Ralph Appelbaum Associates