Dennis Andersson Work in progress
Portfolio
Migrating Energy
2019 | KADK
In the northernmost settlement in Alaska, surrounded by the arctic sea, and an endless territory of melting permafrost, this project deals with climate change, in a region where perhaps more than any other, the consequences are dramatic, vast in scale and observable in real time.
As the arctic is becoming increasingly important for site-specific research, the project is merging a program for a technical college and research centre, while offering public spaces, otherwise non-existent in the town; a new space where researchers and students can meet with the local community to find ways of battling the environmental challenges crippling their community and the rest of the Arctic.
Utqiagvik
Alaska
Based in the town of Utqiagvik, this project investigates how to create architecture that avoids melting the underlying permafrost, and at the same time deals with the difficulty of building on an increasingly unstable landscape. Abandoned oil derrick-towers is used to hoist the building from the ground, and to minimize energy use, the design is optimized for passive heating. As methane emissions are rapidly rising, the project explores systems of tapping into this gas generated by the thawing soils, to be used as an alternative energy source, and together with more knowledge, perhaps become a new economic foundation for the community.”
The shell incapsulates larger temperate spaces, housing the infrastructure of the building. The well insulated volumes inside the shell provides educational spaces, research facilities and dormatories, while the larger temperate spaces allows a greater flexibility of activities, protected from the harsh outdoor climate.
The south facade is capitalizing on the direction of the sun of the long polar days in the cold summer, to passively heat the building, as well as allowing the maximum amount of light to enter the space in the dark winters.
The north facade is designed with the harch Arctic climate in mind, forming a protective layer for the building to withstand the beating of the strong northern winds at temperatures below -40°C