Arctic Cabin

Hello!

My name is Romaan Lone, I just turned 15 and I'm a rising Sophomore in my High School. For the "Make it resilient" contest, I am very excited to have participated in such an extraordinary event. For this challenge, I decided to choose the Arctic for these 3 reasons:

• The Arctic poses many challenges which I find fun to tackle.

• I know little about the Arctic, and researching it will give me more knowledge about the place.

• It is one of the few places on Earth that humans have never fully explored, so making a habitat on it that people can actually live in without any danger is such a huge accomplishment.

My design includes the basic needs for a community to properly live in without any threats of the bitter cold or the dangerous job of hunting animals almost constantly. Maybe one day, some parts of my design can be incorporated into a real life project that people can build in the future.

If this were to be created in real life, these are the materials for it :)

• Aluminium for the base, walls and roof as it can withstand temperatures of -45 degrees Celsius.

• Titanium doors

• Salt water purifier

• Solar Panels

• Solar generator

• Solar storage

• Fishnets

• Oak wood (for the interior floor)

• Appliances/ Furniture

The first thing I did was to research the habitat. It's important to gain as much knowledge as possible when it comes to building, so that you know what to do. There are 3 main problems when it comes to living in the arctic.

• Freezing temperatures
• Hard to get food/water
• Day and night cycles are different from what people normally experience.

There are many other problems, but these are the main ones that my design will focus on.

After doing some research, I went to sketch out my ideas of a habitat. I decided to make a cabin-like structure as those are best suited for cold places such as the Arctic. My idea of a cabin consists of many ways that a human would need to survive.

The sketch on the left shows a 30 degree angle of a metal cabin. The walls, room and base are all made out of aluminum. This type of metal was chosen because it can sustain and even improve its ductility at cold temperatures of -250 degrees! So making most of the cabin out of aluminum can withstand the freezing temperatures of the Arctic. There is also a farm for growing vegetables and other crops which a person needs as it can provide a lot of food. The sketch also shows solar panels for gathering heat/electricity as well as a water purifier.

The sketch on the right shows the backside of the cabin. There are a few things like the solar generator, which collects energy from solar panels and converts it to electricity. Then comes the solar tank storage which stores the solar energy collected by the solar panels. This is needed for the winter time as the nights are longer and darker.

These brief sketches don't contain everything about the design as I made them to help me get an idea of all the things I want to add.

In this CAD model I added almost all of the things that I sketched. The biggest difference between the sketch and the CAD is that I decided to turn the farm into a storage room. Although a farm might be a good idea, it would take too much energy to keep crops at the right temperature, making it less efficient. The storage room was better because it can hold provisions as well as storage tanks that the solar panels will collect (more on that later).

I also added as much detail as I could and some color to give it a real life appearance. There are also some other things that I created which were not in the sketch (such as the fishing net). Each item that was CAD modeled serves a purpose for helping humans with survival.

The biggest problem with living in the arctic is the freezing temperature. The arctic has an average of -40 degrees Celsius everyday, so almost any material will be frozen. The first step is to build a base with a material that can withstand the freezing temperature for a while.

As mentioned before, aluminum can withstand and even improve its ductility at -45 degrees Celsius. This means that it can last longer than other materials as well as keep the place warm a bit.

Another way was by using solar panels. Most of the water in the arctic is frozen, which is called sea ice. It can reflect about 80% of the sun's rays, which makes them extremely bright. So whenever the sun is out, the solar panels installed on the roofs will be able to absorb all of that light, in which people then could transfer to electricity. There is just 1 problem with this method.

The seasons in the Arctic are a bit different than what people normally experience. During the summer, the sun is shining almost 24/7. But in the winter however, it's almost dark the whole time. This means that in the winter the solar panels can't absorb any sunlight which means no electricity to survive the winter time. 1 solution to that is to store solar energy during the summer time in battery tanks and then use it in the winter time. But, electric battery tanks can't supply enough to last a whole 6 months of complete darkness.

(Picture on the left shows the solar panels)

Another solution would be to use hydraulic power. Since most of the arctic is frozen water, people can melt the ice and place them into turbines or generators. The flow of the water when put through a pipe will produce enough kinetic energy to move them, which will be turned into electricity. It can then be transferred to an electrical grid which people can use in the winter time.

(Picture on the right shows hydraulic generator).

Another major problem in the Arctic is collecting food and water. 20% of Earth's fresh water lives in the Arctic, all frozen into glaciers. The image above shows a water purifier which can turn salt water into fresh. The top cube has blender like blades that crush ice and snow. It has mini heaters on the side which help speed up the process of melting them. Once its all melted, people can use it for drinking and other purposes. This is one way the machine can produce drinkable water.

Another way would be putting salt water into the center tube. There are thin membranes located along the middle of the tube. The salt water pushes through the tiny holes located on the membranes. Water can easily flow through them, but salt ions are too big for it, which leaves them behind. This method is called membrane desalination.

As for gathering food, there are a couple of ways for a person to get food:

• Building a farm. This method takes longer than the rest as crops need months to grow. Although you can gain an abundance of food, it takes too much energy and heat because some plants require certain temperatures to grow. This is especially bad in the winter where they need sunlight but can't receive them as it is dark all day.

• A more efficient way to gather food is by hunting. There are many animals like penguins, seals, hares, etc. But the most popular are fish. Making fish nets near rivers is an excellent way to get food every day. It is less costly and can be used for a long time.

In the Arctic, the seasons are pretty different than what normal people experience. Since the Arctic is on the poles, they either have really sunny days or deep, dark nights.

In the summer, there is sunshine almost 24/7. So using soar panels is an obvious choice. You can use electric battery tanks to store solar energy and then convert it into electricity. With the sun in the sky for almost the whole day, a person doesn't have to worry about running out of electricity. The winter time is different.

During the winter, the Arctic is faced almost entirely away from the sun. This means that is barely receives any light from solar panels. The solar energy tanks don't have enough to last the whole winter which is problematic in these icy temperatures. In my CAD design, I have incorporated a hydraulic system, a water based energy source. As mentioned before, most of the Arctic is frozen water. So having a hydraulic power source to survive the winter is a good idea.

It is important to know the seasons of the Arctic. The sun plays a crucial role in human survival. Without it, many people may not survive. So using these 2 methods and other options can help humans bring them one step closer to fully exploring the Arctic.

In the "Make it reliance" contest, I had fun creating and thinking of ways for humans to live in the Arctic. It really opened up my curiosity to learn about a place I had little knowledge of. Hopefully one day, some of my ideas can be incorporated to a real life project. I would strongly recommend to do more contests like these so in future generations, people can come up with even more brilliant ideas.