Photographer: Anze Cokl | ArchDaily

Extreme Architecture: Challenges and Solutions in Inhospitable Environments

Eduardo Souza — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 04:00:00 +0000

"In various regions of the planet, nature imposes adverse conditions on the human body. In these places, designing a building is almost like creating a garment: an artifact that protects and offers comfort. This challenge requires technological performance that must be combined with aesthetics. Making human beings feel good involves more than just meeting notions of comfort and safety; it's also a question of working with spaces in their symbolic and perceptual dimensions." This is the beginning of the description for the design of the Brazilian Antarctic Station in Antarctica, by Estúdio 41, located on the Keller Peninsula, where the surrounding sea freezes for around six to seven months of the year, where everything and everyone arrives by plane or ship and the nearest hardware store is days away. If designing a building in normal circumstances already presents numerous complexities, it's not hard to imagine the additional challenges when developing something in an extreme environment, such as locations with very high or low temperatures, or in places susceptible to corrosion, radiation, and more. In this article, we will explore the difficulties, the main solutions and the materials used in these contexts.

Alpine Shelter 'Bivak na Prehodavcih' / Premica Architects

Cristobal Rojas — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 02:00:00 +0000

World War 1 left countries devastated. After the signing of Treaty of Rapallo (1920) on a territory of the latter Yugoslavia, Italy started to build a huge alpine fortification system, which was an enormous engineering feat, consisting of supply roads and paths that led to high-alpine fortresses, outposts and other military infrastructure.

Alpine Shelter “Bivak II na Jezerih” / AO

Cristobal Rojas — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 05:00:00 +0000

More than 80 years ago, visionary minds of alpine climbers in Slovenia decided to build alpine shelters in the Julian Alps. In 1936 there were no access roads. What used to take climbers and hikers days, takes a couple of hours nowadays. With better infrastructure and general access however, parts of Triglav National Park’s most sacred places still remain pristine and less visited.

Alpine Shelter Skuta / OFIS Architects + AKT II + Harvard GSD Students

Nico Saieh — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

The project developed from an architectural design studio at the Harvard Graduate School of Design led by Rok Oman and Spela Videcnik from OFIS. In fall 2014, studios of thirteen students were facing the challenges of designing an innovative yet practical shelter to meet the needs of the extreme alpine climate. Inspired by the vernacular architecture of Slovenia with its rich and diverse architectural heritage, the students produced twelve proposals meeting various site conditions, material considerations, and programmatic concerns were produced and cataloged.