Double Helix

Subglacial Processes, Lake Vostok

Studio 28: with/in antarctic extremes
Tutor: dr. Miranda nieboer

Double Helix seeks to respond to the temporalities and dynamisms of the Antarctic environment in rethinking an alternative mode of inhabitation that responds to the movement of icesheets over time at Lake Vostok. The unique dynamics of Lake Vostok’s climate and the subglacial processes occurring within the region form an interesting series of conditions that benefit global scientific understanding. Research into subglacial water flux is significant in understanding the future of the planet’s climate through the drilling of ice cores and sampling of subglacial water. It responds to aspects of time, change and movement through its flexibility within the core, its surrounding circulation and inhabitable space. The adaptable floor finishes and structural configurations allows for long term inhabitation of the structure as it shifts with the surrounding environment. The core is utilised as a tool to allow daylight to enter the embedded volume, and capture snow fall, serving as both a representation of ice core drilling and over a series of years becoming an ice core in itself. The surrounding inhabitable space, weaves through the core, creating a series of penetrations within the form, like portals into different areas. The separation of program: residential and research, creates 2 strands of circulation that intersect at various points, mimicking the fluid motion of subglacial streams that intersect and diverge across Lake Vostok.