Article source: LPO arkitekter

Ny-Ålesund is a research town on the island of West Spitsbergen of Norwegian archipelago Svalbard. This is the northernmost settlement on Earth with a permanent population of 30-35 people, which increases in the summer to 120. Ny-Ålesund was founded as a settlement of coal miners in 1917, but in the 1960s coal mining was discontinued and the town was converted into a research settlement. Currently, there are 16 research stations run by scientists from 10 countries. A new earth observation station established by the Norwegian Mapping Authority (Kartverket) and developing by NASA will be the seventeenth in this list.

Image Courtesy © Hanne Jørgensen

• Architects: LPO arkitekter
• Project: Earth Observatory
• Location: Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard and Jan Mayen
• Photography: Bjørn-Ove Holmberg, Elisa Grinland, Hanne Jørgensen
• Lead Architects: Arvid Rønsen Ruud
• Area: 850.0 m2

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