Dystopian subsistence

Abstract

How we live and what we do in our lives are strongly dependant on how we react and how we respond to situations, conditions and settings. Global change is happening, and it is happening now. Sea levels are rising, earthquakes are commonplace and the threat of global collapse is no longer considered mere prophecy. And whilst the world changes, so do we as a race. The question rises of our future and I what we become in the midst of global collapse and absolute change, does one simply give in? Architecture, as a discipline, responds to many elements that consider the building within familiar environments, existing surrounding structures, past historical references and the like. How strong is architecture, as a medium and as a discourse, amid such events as that of a universal apocalyptic happening?

We do not have to travel far to realise how ill prepared we are for global change. Antarctica, holding no instances of permanent residence and proving to be one of the harshest regions on Earth for life, presents us with one simple fact; we as humans do not seem to be coping fast enough with what an be aptly described as exemplified post-apocalyptic conditions, similar conditions met in what many call, the Ice Age.

This project will look to introduce a standard of human subsistence that responds to the possibility of the post-apocalyptic condition of a futuristic Ice Age. Using Antarctica as a basis upon which to instigate possible architectural design approaches to a probable future problem, the main function of this design is to accommodate the survival and continuation of human life within a dystopian setting; stripping back to what can be a design focused on the consideration to the bare essentials of what we as humans need: human security. The intention will look to be a repository that will act as a sentinel do the continuation for the salvation and subsistence of the human race in otherwise dystopian human conditions; functioning not only as a safeguard for the survival of human life, but for the future of mankind itself.