Northern exposure: in Norway's remote north, this research centre responds to challenging conditions.Even by Scandinavian standards, the Svalbard archipelago Archipelago (ärkĭpĕl`əgō) [Ital., from Gr.=chief sea], ancient name of the Aegean Sea, later applied to the numerous islands it contains. The word now designates any cluster of islands. is challengingly remote. Over 600km north of the Norwegian mainland, the islands' glacier-scored landscape is frozen solid to a depth of 500m and temperatures plummet to -50 deg C in winter. The upside of this inhospitability are rich deposits of coal that attracted Russian and Swedish mining operations in the first half of the twentieth century. But with the decline of the coal industry, Svalbard is now looking to encourage a more diverse economy of adventure tourism and scientific research. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This centre for atmospheric and environmental research is in Spitzbergen, the largest island in the archipelago (and also the only inhabited one). Designed by Jarmund Vigsnaes, the centre was the outcome of a competition. Having previously built an HQ for the governor of Svalbard The governor of Svalbard, Norwegian: Sysselmannen på Svalbard represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago. , Jarmund Vigsnaes were familiar with the archipelago's formidable terrain and climate. Clad in a highly insulated copper skin, the centre is a humped hump n. 1. A rounded mass or protuberance, such as the fleshy structure on the back of a camel or of some cattle. 2. A deformity of the back in humans caused by an abnormal convex curvature of the upper spine. 3. , topographic presence in the bleak landscape. Though fashionably angular, the geometry was modelled on flows of wind and snow raking across the site and helps to mitigate snow build-up over doors and windows Doors and Windows is a multimedia disk by the Irish band The Cranberries. Track listing
tr.v. ven·ti·lat·ed, ven·ti·lat·ing, ven·ti·lates 1. To admit fresh air into (a mine, for example) to replace stale or noxious air. 2. airspace underneath it. As the centre's users will be spending a great deal of time indoors, they need to feel at ease with their surroundings. The copper skin conceals and protects a pine-lined, humanly-scaled maze of internal streets, offices and laboratories that offers spatial incident and variety. Jurors were impressed by the response to such challenging conditions and how the architecture was literally yet creatively shaped by context. C. S. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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