Extreme Design: Preparing for a Different Future

Weather records show that global warming is now unquestionably happening. A recent 2019 International Panel on Climate Change report on limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 °C claims that adaptation and mitigation actions are already occurring. But, as weather records around the world are being broken, often on an annual basis, there is much reason to question if the steps being taken are actually effective as a recent International Energy Agency report in 2019 on the latest trends in global energy use and CO2 emissions shows that in 2018 CO2 emissions rose 1.7% to a historic high of 33.1 Gt CO2. Many buildings will need to be upgraded in their performance to ensure that populations in them can remain safe in the predicted hotter, colder, wetter, dryer and windier future we all face. This paper outlines the results of recent field work in Antarctica on an extreme structure, a Polar Lodge, designed to withstand the extreme cold, wind and precipitation on King George Island and from which lessons have been learnt on how to design for such extremes. This involves a radical change in the design methodologies adopted in many offices, setting aside the overweening importance given to building simulation for a more holistic process aimed at developing innovative design solutions. The paper concludes that more emphasis should be given to empirical research in the way we preemptively shape our climatic design to increase the resilience of buildings and cities around the world in the face of the unprecedented increases in predicted future extreme weather events and trends.