"Habitation in Extreme Environments: Alpine Shelter" exhibition + talk this Friday at Harvard GSD

Currently on display at Harvard GSD's Gund Hall, the "Habitation in Extreme Environments: Alpine Shelter" exhibition focuses on architectural solutions for extreme climates. The exhibition showcases the investigative work of the students who took an option studio this past fall led by OFIS arhitekti's Spela Videcnik and Rok Oman.

On February 13, a free and open lecture will formally introduce the exhibition/studio's topic to the public.

Learn more about it below.

"The extreme climatic conditions of the North introduce a design challenge for architects. The fragile environmental conditions require incisive designs that respond to irregular loading from strong winds, heavy snowfalls, avalanche risk zones, and extreme cold. The studio investigated a prototypical design: a unit with sleeping and cooking space for up to eight people, on a mountain site in Slovenia."

"Curated by Rok Oman, Spela Videcnik, and 
John T. Dunlop (Design Critic in Housing and Urban Development), the exhibition at Gund Hall's Experiments Wall features the students' work of Videcnik and Oman's studio this past fall. One of the alpine shelters is planned for constructions this summer 2015 at Pod Rokavi, Slovenia, at 2,118 meters above sea level near the tallest mountain Triglav in Slovenia. GPS - lat,lon: (46.4339°, 13.8381°)."

“Harvard Graduate School of Design provided an option studio during the fall of 2014 that highlighted this ongoing issue of housing in the North region of the United States. Students questioned and researched traditional European alpine settlements in attempt to pose new solutions to contemporary architecture within a North American context."

"Within a context of extreme risk to environmental forces, it is important to design buildings within the system  that the surrounding environment has mandated. Responding to environmental conditions is not only a protective measure, but also benefits future generations. In the midst of dramatic climate shifts, housing design translates into a matter of immediate life safety for existing populations."

"In response to these deficiencies, the design of remote settlements in the North must be constructed in accordance with ideas of self-sufficiency and supplementary back-up energy systems. Many vernacular building traditions can serve as a reference for designing environments that are holistically sustainable within the extreme climatic conditions, challenging comfortable human habitation in the North."

Project Credits:

Studio Tutors: Rok Oman, Spela Videcnik

Technology advisor: Hanif Kara

Teaching Associate:  Josh Schecter

Workshop Instructors: Hanif Kara, Structure; Klaus Mayer, Environmental Context; Wolfgang Rieder, Intelligent Skins

Students: Myrna Ayoub, Oliver Bucklin, Zheng Cui, Frederick Kim, Katie MacDonald, Lauren McClellan, Michael Meo, Erin Pellegrino, Nadia Perlepe, Elizabeth Pipal, Tianhang Ren, Xin Su, Elizabeth Wu