DATUM
ice · Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Halvorsen Station

75.5811° S 26.2167° W · +31 m

The building+31 m
A long low research station raised on slim legs above a flat white ice shelf, with a faint horizon and one vehicle trail.
A long low research station raised on slim legs above a flat white ice shelf, with a faint horizon and one vehicle trail.
Site
Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica
Coordinates
75.5811° S 26.2167° W
Elevation
+31 m above sea level
Programme
Research station on hydraulic legs that climb with the snow.
Year
2024 · complete
Seed
582578538
Field notes± 0.00 m

The ice shelf moves about 400 metres a year and gains a metre of snow. A building here cannot have foundations, so Halvorsen stands on eight hydraulic legs that climb out of the drift each spring and can walk the station inland on skis when the shelf calves.

The site

Flat to the horizon in every direction. The datum itself moves, so every survey mark on the drawings carries a date.

The skin

The screen is almost closed, because the field here is almost flat. It is the quietest of the four, and the only one painted white.

Plates2 views
  1. A laboratory with spruce floor and walls, simple benches and a long row of windows looking out over a flat white ice shelf.
    01Labs on the south side: cross-laminated spruce and triple glazing.
  2. Low view under the raised station: four thick steel legs on broad skis standing in wind-rippled snow, the flat ice shelf beyond.
    02Legs and skis. Each spring the legs lift the station about a metre clear of the drift.
Building skin220 cells

A screen grown from the ground.

Face
South face
Material
Aluminium, painted white
Cells
220
Opening
10% to 26% of each cell
Open overall
18%
Seed
582578538

All four skins in the Material Library

Materials6 items

What it is made from.

  • Hydraulic legs, 8 no.

    Lift the station 1 m a year clear of the drift

    Forged and machined in Norway, tested to minus 45 °C

  • Steel skis, 2.4 m

    Foot of each leg, for towing the station inland

    Fabricated in Hamburg, shipped via Cape Town

  • Aluminium panels, painted white

    South screen and roof, 220 cells

    Rolled in Wales, coated in a Dutch plant

  • Cross-laminated spruce

    Floors and internal walls of the labs

    Austrian mill, delivered in 9 flat-pack crates

  • Mineral wool, 300 mm

    Walls and floor build-up, U-value 0.11

    Danish plant, vacuum-packed for transport

  • Triple-glazed units, argon filled

    Lab windows, 14 openings

    Finnish glazier, packed in foam-lined timber cases
Section4 levels

Cut through the ground.

Section through Halvorsen Station+8.20Roof+4.50Labs+0.00Leg base−4.00Ice shelf
Field journal7 entries

From survey to site.

  1. First GPS marks set on the shelf. The datum drifts 1.1 m a day, so each mark carries a timestamp.

  2. Snow pits dug at six points. Accumulation averages 1.0 m a year, with a firm layer at 3.2 m.

  3. Leg prototype tested in a cold chamber. One leg lifted 18 tonnes through 0.9 m in 11 minutes at minus 40 °C.

  4. Seventy-four crates reach the shelf edge, 9 per sledge train. Haul to site takes 3 days.

  5. Frame up on eight legs, level to 4 mm across 60 m. The shelf has moved 380 m since the first mark.

  6. South screen hung. Labs powered on, and the first lift cycle ran for 26 hours without a fault.

  7. Handover after the winter-over inspection. One leg reset after the first spring lift.

Next site+5,060 m

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