Extreme Design: Lessons from Antarctica Susan Roaf 1 , Joao Pinelo Silva 2 , Manuel Correia Guedes 3 , Adrian Pitts 4 and Martin Oughton 5 1 Institute of Sustainable Buildings Design, Heriot Watt University, s.roaf@hw.ac.uk 2 Department of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Engineering. University of Bahrain, j.pinelo@uob.edu.bh 3 University of Lisbon, IST, Portugal, manuel.guedes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt 4 Department of Architecture, University of Huddersfield, UK, A.Pitts@hud.ac.uk 5 Martin Oughton, Mode Ltd., Oxford, UK, martin@mode-ltd.com Abstract: The warming global climate is triggering ever more extreme weather events with records being broken year on year for flooding, heat and cold waves and wind strengths. Consequently, more buildings are failing in the face of such weather events. In order to build structures that can withstand ever greater climate challenges in which people and populations can ‘bounce forwards’ to remain safe in them, even in worse weather conditions, we need to upgrade our approach to the climatic design of buildings around the world. A recent project to design a tent to stand for twelve months at Collins Bay, Antarctica, emphasised that it is difficult to approach more ‘extreme design’ without actually experiencing the extreme conditions they may be required to operate in. This paper outlines what was learnt in that project about designing for extremely cold and windy environments. Lessons learnt were often unanticipated and included new insights into the form, materials, design, construction and siting of the tent at both its design, its fabrication and its building stages. This paper outlines the main steps in that design learning. The project clearly demonstrated the complexity of the issues involved in making sure the tent was optimally designed and built for and in its location, with a view to ensuring it would not fail in local conditions which include minus 30 0 C during winter and locally recorded winds of up to 200pmh. It provides valuable lessons on the underlying process of how to design more generally for more extreme weather futures. Keywords: Extreme Design, Antarctic, Global Warming, Resilience, Tent, 1. Introduction All around us buildings are currently failing in for two main climatic reasons (Roaf, 2018a): a) They were built in the wrong place (too hot, cold, wet or windy). b) They are wrongly built there to keep people comfortable or safe in current climates The growing risks of ignoring climate change are visible all around us but many who know of the risks still build the wrong buildings and in the wrong places, for either a) short term cost/benefit gains or b) they suffer from a fantasy reality gap that ‘that’ could not happen to ‘them’. Who would build in the wrong place? Many Councils in the UK are still allowing building on land that has already flooded. Many ‘wrong places’ have nice views of a river, ocean or mountains and appear ostensibly to be prime locations until the wind starts blowing, it rains or the ocean invade a coastline. In some countries they are even promoting the making of new land out in the ocean to build on that will inevitably flood in the future in the face of already predicted rising sea levels and increasingly high storm surges (Roaf et al., 2009). The ‘resilience’ refrain of wanting to shore up systems so that they can ‘bounce back’ to their former state after catastrophic events appears to ignore the prescient science that warns of very different future climates. when what may hit next time is much worse than what destroyed the system in the first place. Where better to see this than in the stranded luxury homes of CATE2019 - 806