“City in the Arctic” model
1971
Photo · Photo © Archive Frei Otto
A physical model precedent demonstrating Frei Otto's speculative 'City in the Arctic' concept, utilizing a giant pneumatic or lightweight dome envelope to shelter an entire urban harbor community.
- What we like about this project
- The highly realistic shimmering water effect created on the model surface to mimic sunlight on cold seas.
Materials
- plastic
- acrylic
- wire-mesh
- resin
Visual identifiers
- pneumatic-dome
- diagrid-envelope
- megastructure-model
- arctic-city-concept
Style tags
- high-tech
- utopian
- lightweight-structures
Visual tags
- speculative-design
- tensile-structure
- climate-envelope
- utopian-urbanism
- architectural-model
- Geometry
- A massive, low-profile spherical dome structure with a fine-grid diagrid pattern, rising smoothly from a flat landscape plane.
- Facade system
- Diagrid structural skin with transparent infill panels.
- Structural guess
- Pneumatic or cable-net supported lightweight dome
- Spatial scale
- Mega-scale urban enclosure; the dome spans several hundred meters in simulated scale, dwarfing the miniature ships.
- Lighting
- Strong directional light reflecting off the textured water surface and the curved dome skin, simulating low-angle arctic sunlight.
- Atmosphere
- A cold, vast, and futuristic atmosphere where human habitation is protected under a single colossal shell.
- Environmental context
- Set on a simulated coastal edge with dark water, a shoreline, and miniature ships to establish scale.
- Spatial experience
- The model represents an immense enclosed environment sheltering an entire urban settlement from a harsh surrounding climate.
- Composition rhythm
- The sweeping curve of the dome contrasts with the organic, winding shoreline and the rigid grid of the envelope.
- Style reading
- Mid-century high-tech utopianism
- Program
- Speculative climate-controlled city
- Perspective
- Model / Physical
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- plastic, acrylic, wire-mesh, resin
- Visual identifiers
- pneumatic-dome, diagrid-envelope, megastructure-model, arctic-city-concept
- Style tags
- high-tech, utopian, lightweight-structures
- Visual tags
- speculative-design, tensile-structure, climate-envelope, utopian-urbanism, architectural-model
- Geometry
- A massive, low-profile spherical dome structure with a fine-grid diagrid pattern, rising smoothly from a flat landscape plane.
- Facade system
- Diagrid structural skin with transparent infill panels.
- Structural guess
- Pneumatic or cable-net supported lightweight dome
- Spatial scale
- Mega-scale urban enclosure; the dome spans several hundred meters in simulated scale, dwarfing the miniature ships.
- Lighting
- Strong directional light reflecting off the textured water surface and the curved dome skin, simulating low-angle arctic sunlight.
- Atmosphere
- A cold, vast, and futuristic atmosphere where human habitation is protected under a single colossal shell.
- Environmental context
- Set on a simulated coastal edge with dark water, a shoreline, and miniature ships to establish scale.
- Spatial experience
- The model represents an immense enclosed environment sheltering an entire urban settlement from a harsh surrounding climate.
- Composition rhythm
- The sweeping curve of the dome contrasts with the organic, winding shoreline and the rigid grid of the envelope.
- Style reading
- Mid-century high-tech utopianism
- Program
- Speculative climate-controlled city
- Perspective
- Model / Physical
- Discipline
- architecture