Exhibition of Antarctic scientific architecture

Install co-ordinator Sam Patterson with a model of a Korean Antarctic ice station. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Install co-ordinator Sam Patterson with a model of a Korean Antarctic ice station. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Finishing touches were being added at the Otago Museum yesterday to the installation of a touring exhibition, which highlights the architecture and science of building in the Antarctic.

Commissioned by the British Council and titled ''Ice Lab: New Architecture and Science in Antarctica'', the show features architecture that is pushing the boundaries of design in extreme environments.

Previously displayed at the Canterbury Museum, the exhibition opens at the Otago Museum's 1877 gallery tomorrow and closes on March 1 next year. British resident Sam Patterson, contracted by the British Council as the show's install co-ordinator, was yesterday helping museum staff complete preparations.

Curated by Arts Catalyst, a London-based arts organisation, the exhibition highlighted the interplay between arts and science in Antarctic architecture, organisers said.

Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said the Antarctic was ''vital to scientific research'' in several fields, including astronomy and climate change.

The show highlighted the ''incredible advances in architecture'' that scientists were making use of in undertaking their research.

Museum officials said innovation in design, technology and engineering, as well as more emphasis on sustainability, could now be seen.

Five imaginative Antarctic base designs feature in the show: including the British Antarctic Survey's self-sufficient, fully relocatable Halley VI Research Station, and Korea's large base, Jang Bogo.

Also featured was an innovative ''Iceberg Living Station'' design from Denmark, which proposes creating a research facility inside a partly hollowed-out iceberg.

The exhibition also highlighted the cutting-edge research taking place in the world's coldest and windiest continent, including collecting 4.5 billion-year-old meteorites, organisers said.

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