Community design case study: Creating science station residences in Antarctica
October 07, 2025
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Applying community design helped create energy-efficient, comfortable residences for scientists and support staff living in Antarctica
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A version of this story first appeared as “Designing for a scientific community near the South Pole” in Design Quarterly, Issue 24.
When we design for people living in extreme climates, we’re still designing for people and their needs. However, at times, environmental conditions and geography require us to find different design solutions.
The Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science (AIMS) program is updating the capability of major portions of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) McMurdo Station—the logistics hub for the U.S. Antarctic Program—so it can continue to support Antarctic science. Leidos is the program manager on behalf of NSF. Parsons Government Services leads the design-build team and is supported by our team as the lead designer for the AIMS project. We were tasked with crafting new residential dormitories and support and logistics facilities for the scientists and staff at NSF McMurdo Station.
The population of McMurdo Station swells to more than 1,000 in the summer months, when conditions are more favorable for research and gathering data. The scientists and staff need comfortable living quarters to complete their work in this harsh environment. And their housing must meet a high standard for energy efficiency and climate and weather resilience.
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A rendering of the new lodging facility Antarctic Infrastructure for Modernization for Science (AIMS) at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Leidos is the program manager on behalf of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Parsons Government Services leads the design-build team and is supported by Stantec as the lead designer for the AIMS project.
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Our work in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, and parts of northern Canada has helped us design in similar harsh environments. From simple mining camps to daycare, K-12 schools, and secondary education facilities, our team regularly designs for temperatures well below zero.
The design of the new McMurdo Station lodging facility was a collaboration between our teams in Denver, Colorado, and Fairbanks, Alaska. We prioritized community design solutions that suit the environment and provide improved living conditions at McMurdo Station.
Our challenge in Antarctica?
Design a new housing building—like a student residence—with 283 beds. Designing for a unique community of scientists working in extreme conditions gave us a chance to see how our community design approach can be applied in an atypical environment.
So, what was our approach? Read on.
Promote well-being and mental health
In the previous residence configuration, staff and scientists bunked together with very little privacy. While that might have been good for efficiency, it didn’t promote mental health and well-being. At McMurdo Station, some staff work the day shift, and some work the night shift. It’s hard to rest in sleeping quarters that are always “on.”
The design features a mix of single- and double-occupancy rooms, depending on user preference. And the new lodging facility is much larger than the previous residences. Each of the three floors is roughly 20,000 square feet, for a total of 60,000 square feet of living space for 283 residents.
Support durability and resiliency
In Antarctica, our designs must account for powerful winds and extreme temperatures. In the winter, the temperature drops to minus 40°F. In the summer, it can hit 45°F. And wind speeds in this region can reach 170 miles per hour. The community design solution for this project requires a thermal envelope that is resilient, withstanding strong winds and wide temperature variation.
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Construction of the new residential facility at McMurdo Station. Construction will continue this winter, which is the Antarctic summer.
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Consider logistics and constructability
When designing for remote environments like Antarctica, we must plan far in advance. We must ship all our building materials during the summer months, a narrow window. The materials must be shipped over long distances and stored until construction season. There’s no guarantee that all the materials will arrive in one piece. The extreme weather also means there is a limited window for construction. We must schedule construction for the months when conditions are more favorable.
Prioritize community design solutions that suit the environment and improve living conditions
With the limitations above in mind, we needed a solution that met our needs for constructability and resiliency but could also support design that would enhance the living experience for scientists at McMurdo Station.
We chose a panel system that can go up fast. It made sense to work with a structural insulated panel (SIP). Using SIPs limits us somewhat. We can’t, for example, create a custom façade for the residences with SIPs. But they offer multiple benefits. Firstly, we can build with them quickly. With SIPs, we build the entire facility during a short window of favorable weather.
And second, it’s a very tight system. Using interlocking panels and sealants, we can get these SIP modules very close to airtight. To get the rigidity necessary to protect these buildings at high wind speed, however, we are using an insulated metal panel on top of the SIP panels. By combining these panels, we exceed the thermal performance we targeted for comfort, resiliency, and efficiency in Antarctica.
" }Under these conditions, we achieve sustainability by resiliency: designing so that our structures are super-insulated and will last 50-plus years without major maintenance.
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Designing with a panel system for bolt-together construction doesn’t mean we are shipping complete rooms to the site. Rather, it’s a kit of parts. We have the panels. And they come in combination with hundreds of precast footings and steel. Then, the builders can put the building together. We designed the entire facility so that everything could be bolted together. We can even package all the studs and material together to fit the kit onto a container vessel, with plenty of extra bolts, naturally. Even better, the builders can fasten a part of the building together from the inside. This reduces the number of workers using lifts in the wind.
With prefabricated furniture and built-in storage solutions, our design optimizes the layout for the living units. This allows for ease of construction and maximizes space within the building footprint. Each 80-square-foot unit features a bed and desk.
Meet a variety of human needs
Scientists need social spaces, too. Our community design accounts for this. The second and third floors of the building each have a quiet and public lounge, used for a variety of activities: watching movies, building puzzles, playing board games, reading books, and socializing.
Each floor of the residential building features a central restroom core. Plumbing is routed through a central chase out through the bottom of the facility via a super-insulated waste pipe. Adjacent to the restrooms in the central core are trash/recycling and laundry facilities. Other miscellaneous spaces within the facility include fan rooms on each floor for fresh air intake and communication rooms, electrical rooms, and mechanical rooms as required.
Make it sustainable and resilient
Sustainability takes on a whole new meaning in the Arctic and Antarctic. To simplify operations down on the ice, fuel is the primary heating source for the campus. Concerning renewable energy, there are other projects currently in the works to provide supplemental wind power to the site. But solar is not feasible, especially because the sun is below the horizon for much of the winter.
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Summertime in Antarctica.
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The island is largely formed of basalt, so there is no geothermal potential. So, what does that leave us? Under these conditions, we achieve sustainability by resiliency: designing so that our structures are super-insulated and will last 50-plus years without major maintenance. We designed a wall system with R-70-plus ratings (heat flow resistance) and chose fixed, quadruple-pane windows. The exterior skin is made up of extra-thick insulated metal panels. We chose heat exchangers and heat recovery ventilators for the mechanical systems to recover as much heat as possible from exhaust units.
Resiliency in this setting means redundancy, so backup boilers are installed in case primary boilers fail. This allows for routine maintenance to be performed, keeping the main boilers in prime operating condition.
This winter (Antarctic summer), the project is moving forward with preparation for the installation of the SIP panels and roof. The construction crew will stay down on the ice over the winter to install sprinkler, mechanical, and electrical systems, and rough-in interior framing. The building will be done in spring 2026.
We are excited to see how the new living quarters are received by this important scientific community. And we’re looking forward to applying our experience in resilient community design to more projects for those living and working in extreme climates.
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