This is Britain’s latest and greatest Antarctic Research Station, the Halley VI. The facility was designed by Hugh Broughton Architects at a cost of £25.8 million (US$40.6 million). The building is built on hydraulic legs sitting atop skis so that the structure can slide along the arctic ice as well as climb out of  snowbanks.

Stationary buildings can get buried under the 3 feet of ice that piles up annually here. So the Halley VI architects cleverly added hydraulic legs to the bottom of the building. The legs can be maneuvered so that the structure climbs out of the built-up snow.

As Gizmag points out, giant skis attached to the bottom of the legs solve another problem: Stationary buildings on the ice shelf risk being caught on a broken-off piece of ice. But by towing these buildings away from danger, the scientists can continue their work on dry, icy land. popsci.com

The building is largely made up of blue pods that’ll act as research rooms or living rooms (complete with a bedside lamp that can simulate sunrise during around-the-clock-dark winters).

A red pod in the middle of the blue pods works as a communal living space, acting as the go-to spot for eating and recreation.

The Halley VI Antarctic research station is, as the name implies, the sixth in a line of Halley facilities that date all the way back to the late 1950s. Data from Halley led to the discovery of the hole in the o-zone layer, so we’re expecting big things when this version’s fully operational in the coming weeks.

[Gizmag via Architectural Record]

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