Building housing in the Arctic is challenging. Aside from the extreme cold and permanent frost, architects must consider numerous factors to ensure that buildings can endure for decades and provide enough comfort for residents.
Overall, experience in constructing frost-resistant housing has been gathered over a considerable period. The first architects in the Russian Arctic generally lacked experience in designing such houses, as many of them were convicts from the GULAG who worked as builders in cities like Norilsk, Vorkuta and Magadan. Consequently, most multi-apartment buildings were, so to speak, 'south-adapted,' reflecting the design of the former residences of convicts.
In 1935, engineers in Norilsk researched the feasibility of building on piles to elevate structures and protect their foundations from floating. Alongside this, the main goal was to provide protection from the wind. This is then evident in the classic circular arrangement of houses, with a yard at the centre.
In the 1960s, renewed interest and discussions about Arctic architecture emerged. By that time, several principles had solidified in building design:
Additionally, there was considerable interest in creating artificial environments within buildings, which we would now refer to as green zones. Unfortunately, this idea did not materialise.
In summary, Soviet architecture in the Arctic aimed to create cities and towns that ideally fit under one roof or had corridors so that residents would not need to venture outside into the cold. In reality, while some of these concepts were realised, the most ambitious projects of interconnected houses were not fully executed.
The predominant architectural principle in the Arctic became the design of long chains of houses, as exemplified in Murmansk.
As for the modern style of Northern architecture, it draws heavily from Scandinavian minimalism while also preserving elements of the Soviet architectural tradition in relation to multi-apartment housing. This influence is most evident in the brightly coloured housing that may extend for hundreds of metres.
Russian universities continue to explore the possibilities of urban planning and house construction in the Arctic. For example, quite recently, the South Russian State Polytechnic University presented a new technology to produce environmentally friendly materials designed specifically for Arctic temperatures.
As for the Northern universities, Petrozavodsk State University has hosted a conference on urban planning in the Arctic zone and has participated in collaborative international projects such as the Green Arctic Building (GrAB), conducted in collaboration with Murmansk State Technical University, Umeå University in Sweden, and the University of Oulu in Finland, which took place from 2018 to 2022.
The key takeaway from the project was the design of environmentally friendly modular housing with cutting-edge monitoring systems and the experience for constructing in Arctic conditions. It is said that the module house has 250 sensors monitoring the environment.
Source of the diagrams: "Архитектура СССР, №12, 1967"
The Editorial Board of the Arctic Century
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