Post Apocalyptic Architecture PDF

|Post-Apocalyptic Architecture
Sustainability is defined as meeting our current needs without compromising the

needs of future generations. The question remains, however, how far into the future
must we plan for? Our universe is almost 14 billion years in age, and scientists
predict that it will live on at least another 14 billion years, whereby it will approach
finality in either a “Big Crunch” singularity, or continue expanding until it becomes
complete darkness – “The Big Chill”. Sustainability, therefore, becomes a relative
concept – even before our universe ceases to exist. From cosmic supernovas, black
holes, and collisions with asteroids to earth-bound disasters such as nuclear
holocaust, natural resource depletion, and biological/genetically engineered
pathogens, humanity is indeed in danger of becoming extinct. Maybe our fate is
inevitable and such events are simply too large for us to comprehend, and simply
are “out of sight and out of mind.” Or maybe thinking on such a grand scale will
make the more imminent dangers our planet faces seem more solvable. In
examining disasters of such magnitude, it will become imperative for architecture to
transform its pedagogy and expand its expertise in order to provide sustainable
solutions that will preserve humanity’s existence.
In recent times, there has been a focused concentration on designing green
buildings and utilizing renewable sources of energy – all of which are in some way
derived from the sun. This paper takes this a step further and asks, what will
happen when apocalypse strikes and our conventional habitats on land can’t
support us. The loss in the green cover has been exponential globally. What will
happen when all of resources that we rely on to live are depleted? Although these
events may be some time away, should we be concerned with them now? In order
to truly engage sustainability, we must examine not just the “immediate” future, but
also the “distant” future.
The dissertation is intended at exploring possibilities of building alternative
habitats at non-conventional locations and more; a fact finding exercise, to ascertain
the current scenario of architecture on similar scales and bring them under one
canopy of Post-Apocalyptic Architecture.
KEYWORDS: Apocalypse, Post-Apocalyptic Architecture, Catastrophe, Alternate

Habitat, Subterranean Habitat, Underwater Habitat, Space Colonization,
Sustainability, Adaptability.
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Head of Department of

Architecture, B.I.T., Mesra, Dr. Manjari Chakraborty and Professor Parama Mitra,
for the help and guidance that was of utmost importance in the drafting and
compilation of this dissertation as a whole.
I am also grateful to many of my colleagues for their honest encouragements,

opinions and suggestions that have helped shape this dissertation to its current
form, good or bad. I shall take no names simply because there are too many.
And lastly, I am glad to have the support of my family who have always been my
spine, even when they are so far away.
Thank you.
Maharshi Bhattacharya
.
1 |P o s t - A p o c a l y p t i c A r c h i t e c t u r e
Nature, in its entirety, persists through adaptation, change being inevitable.

The first life forms on earth, endured underwater, wherein survival-instinct and
eventually, adaptability, caused some of them to move to land. Millions of years later,
when the simple celled life forms have metamorphosed into complex biomechanical
machines, the essence of adaptability remains unchanged.
RATIONALE
The Global climatic and environmental scenario along with the ubiquitous
population explosion is hardly a good sight. What is happening throughout the
Earth’s ecosystem as an outcome of the unprecedented exhaustion of its resources
and disruption of the natural machinery is no more a prognostic in theory. In the
face of an impending climatic disaster it is imperative that long lasting design
solutions, alternatives that help sustain life comfortably on earth, be found.
What is required is a massive remodelling of the surface cover of the Earth,
reduction of desert/arid landmasses and containing the urban sprawl, and along
with this an alternative location of habitat.
Presently, there are various possibilities, although at an embryonic stage, that
might lead to a pragmatic outcome for the future. Researches into alternative
habitat locations have already begun. Through the 1960s, the US Navy was
experimenting with SEALAB1, a series of three underwater habitats that explored
the notion of human beings living and working at the bottom of the ocean for long
periods of time. With over 5 decades of improved science, newer and lasting
underwater habitats are being tested worldwide.
Space exploration is not new to futurists as a probable answer to man’s
colonization needs in the near future. Space colonization (also called space
settlement, space humanization, or space habitation) is the concept of permanent
human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there
are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony. It is seen as a
long-term goal of some national space programs.
The first space colony may be on the Moon, or on Mars. Ample quantities of all
the necessary materials, such as solar energy and water, are on the Moon, Mars,
or near Earth asteroids. In 2005 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin identified
space colonization as the ultimate goal of current spaceflight programs.2
Terrestrial habitats have persisted since the dawn of human civilization and why
not so. But through time man has overstepped limitations. The pressure on land
has been an ever increasing affair. Green covers have been lost, forests have
depleted, water has been polluted, water bodies lost, top-soils destroyed beyond
repair and there is more to come. Almost every urban planning undertaking has
been a failure owing to the unprecedented growth of various aspects of civilization.
Megacities forecast to exceed populations of millions by 2020. City Towers
challenge assumptions about such future cities. They present a timely solution to
the social challenges of urban expansion on this scale and to the particular
problems of a metropolis, with its acute land shortages. The towers would be
capable of housing a community of a large number of people, generating its own
energy and processing its own waste, and with its own transportation system, such
vertical city quarters would be self-sustaining and virtually self-sufficient. Such
projects will demonstrate that high-density or high-rise living does not mean
overcrowding or hardship; it might lead to an improved quality of life, where housing,
work and leisure facilities are all close at hand.
Subterranean architecture is also rapidly gaining popularity; but of all the
alternatives of habitat being thought of this happens to be the oldest one around,
albeit its application earlier was different from what is required now. The Doomsday
Vault3 has been installed in one of the Svalbard islands of Norway, and is a
controlled environment vault that houses all the physical genetic data of food crops,
occurring around the world inter alia. This has led to a lot of scientists evolving the
idea of such vaults for long-term temporary human habitation in case of a global
catastrophe.
The dissertation is intended at exploring into such aforementioned possibilities

and more; a fact finding exercise, to ascertain the current scenario of architecture
on similar scales and bring them under one canopy of Post-Apocalyptic
Architecture. Therefore, throughout this dissertation we essentially try answer a
few questions;
What will be the future of habitat?
How and where will living beings thrive?
What may become of our habitable environment, if a cataclysmic event of

magnanimous proportions occurs?
What can we do through architecture, to persist in the occurrence of an event at

such scale?
“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.”
Poet T.S. Eliot speculated that life on earth might not after all be terminated
catastrophically, as in the impact of a large asteroid (today's popular doomsday
machine). Rather, we might depart slowly, quietly, and mournfully. Of course, Eliot
was not thinking of asteroids -- no one foresaw impact havoc in his day. But, his use
of the word "whimper" can be attached to other, much slower agents of disaster.
Polar ice caps are melting at the rate of 9% per decade; the average
temperature of the earth is rising and is looking to go up by as much as 2 degrees
Celsius by 2050. The Carbon content of the atmosphere has crossed 350 ppm. It
might not all come down to one judgement day, but, yes, maybe the week or the
month, or any number of decisive days, lingers around the corner.
A lot of the damage that has already been inflicted upon the environment cannot
be undone, although efforts are underway. Rather than mobilizing resources to
reverse the effects we must look to Sustainability through Adaptability. Nature
works by it.
Some problems that we face presently, which eventually might culminate into
cataclysmic issues are:
o The population on this earth is increasing drastically owing to which the

horizontal spread in most situations has become difficult and almost
impossible. The needs of people vary and one particular solution can never
fit all. Therefore, what can be the optimised design solution to address this
problem?
o Abnormal weather conditions are frequenting, with an increased

occurrence; 2010 was a year of flash floods1. Extreme weather conditions
of both heat and cold persisted throughout the globe. The month of April
and May were the hottest ones in the Indian subcontinent in the last
10,000 years2.
1. Image courtesy NASA Dataset
o The atmospheric concentration of CO2 has never been greater than ~ 300
ppm for the past 400,000 years. Present concentration is 385 ppm. The
last time CO2 concentrations reached 550 ppm was 230 million years
ago. Fossil records show that 90% of species on earth became extinct3.
2. Image courtesy UNDP

2. Image courtesy UNDP

o Most of our Environmental dilemmas find root in or are directly responsible

for the Global Warming – through the Green House Effect. Problems such
as:
 Polar ice – caps melting

 Water levels rising
 Polluted air – unfit for breathing in metropolitans
 Localized extreme weather occurrences, tornadoes, flash floods, etc.
o Apart from all this, Nature has its own machinery to bring balance to
things. Malthusian catastrophe (also phrased Malthusian check,
Malthusian crisis, Malthusian disaster, etc.) was originally foreseen to be a
forced return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth had
outpaced agricultural production. Later formulations consider economic
growth limits as well. The term is also commonly used in discussions of oil
depletion. It is based on the work of political economist Thomas Malthus
(1766–1834).4
o Man-made catastrophes are an equal worry, if not more. Nuclear disasters

like that at Chernobyl in 1986 and the more recent one in Fukushima
Daichi could pose as serious hazards as they had multiple and lasting
detrimental effects. A Nuclear Holocaust that might come into existence as
an outcome of an outbreak of war between nations with nuclear
capabilities.
These and many other rapid and slow onset disasters form a need to initialize
fortifying efforts on the habitat front as will be made clear in the following chapters.
What is Post-Apocalyptic Architecture?
Post-Apocalyptic Architecture, here, refers to that particular kind where the

primal intension is the longevity and sustainability of human civilization, in the wake
of an imminent cataclysmic event, popularly termed ‘an Apocalypse’: most likely an
environmental catastrophe. However, the essence of the phrase lies in the fact that,
the efforts are not an outcome of the disaster, but rather a preparation for one.
o Existing structures with the purpose of withstanding hard-hitting

cataclysms are scarce in number. (Example: the Doomsday Vault,
Svalbard, Norway) Localized efforts can be found throughout the globe but
it doesn’t amount to any substantial percentage. However, some of these
do set examples in terms of construction methods, materials used,
innovations in technology/ideas, etc. which, at a later stage, might give an
impetus to future projects on such lines.
o Although, structures with similar withstanding structural capabilities are

there to be found, the basic intention behind them being built is quite
different. (Example: City towers, Subterranean structures)
o Current Global scenario points towards small and diverse pockets of

development in the field, by various agencies (NASA, The Atlantica
Expeditions).
However, the trend is gradually catching up as Sustainability through Adaptation

takes prominence amongst the new race of environmentally conscious designers.
Up until now the basic reason/purpose behind any structure being built, whether it
is a commercial building, or an educational structure, a shipyard, or a factory was
its need in the society. But then individually these purposes were/are different for
each building. A factory and an educational building have two very different
purposes.
The purpose behind structures being built on the lines of Post-Apocalyptic
Architecture is to comfortably sustain human life in dire situations of global crises.
However, we must note that these structures could range from office buildings to
entertainment hubs to spiritual temples. So even if their individual purposes differ,
all these structures will be built to cater to a greater need of sustainability.
Presently, there are various possibilities, although at an embryonic stage, that

might lead to a pragmatic outcome for the future. Researches into alternative
habitat locations have already begun. As an outcome or a consequence of Post-
Apocalyptic Architecture a few alternative habitat systems are suggested with their
presently existing (or closest in characteristics) examples. We will talk about:
o Subterranean Habitats
o Space Colonization
o Megacity Towers
o Arks
o Underwater Habitats
A point must be kept in mind that although these are some of the foremost
alternatives for the location of human habitat, these certainly aren’t the only ones.
As science progresses it is highly likely that other such alternatives will be found.
SUBTERRANEAN HABITATS
Subterranean structures are those that are situated or operating beneath the
earth's surface/underground.
o During the Cold War in the U.S.A. and Russia entire Government offices
and safe-houses were built under the surface, in case of a Nuclear
Holocaust. Some of them rumoured to be functional even today.5
o In Tornado prone areas of developed nations, bunkers are provided to air

the local residents in case of an occurrence.6
o During World War II, Germany had built almost an underground city of
bunkers to house its officials.7
These habitats will be self-sufficient in every possible aspect. Entire cities will be
supported underground. Solutions to major issues will have to be found, such as
solid waste disposal, air circulation, HVAC, lighting movement, etc.
Although there are many examples of subterranean structures around the globe,
we will only discuss those which are relevant to our purport.
SVALBARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT

SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO
NORWAY
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault8 is a secure seed-bank located on the Norwegian
island of Spitsbergen near the town of Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard
archipelago, about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the North Pole. The facility
preserves a wide variety of plant seeds in an underground cavern. The seeds are
duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene-banks worldwide.
3. Image courtesy Cary Fowler
The seed vault will provide insurance against the loss of seeds in gene-banks, as
well as a refuge for seeds in the case of large scale regional or global crises. The
seed vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between
the Norwegian government, the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and the Nordic
Genetic Resource Centre.
Svalbard, in the northern reaches of Norway, was chosen for a variety of
reasons: The permafrost in the ground offers natural freezing for the seeds; the
vault’s remote location enhances the security of the facility; the local infrastructure
is excellent; Norway, a global player in many multinational efforts, is a willing host;
and the area is geologically stable. In the case of a large-scale regional or even
global catastrophe, it is quite likely that the Seed Vault would prove indispensable to
humanity.
The purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is to provide insurance against
both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity held in traditional seed
banks around the world. The Seed Vault offers “fail-safe” protection for one of the
most important natural resources on earth. It serves as an essential element in a
global network of facilities that conserve crop diversity and make it available for use
in plant breeding and research.
Its genesis lies primarily in the
desire of scientists to protect
against the all-too-common small-
scale loss of diversity in individual
seed collections. With a duplicate
sample of each distinct variety
safeguarded in the Seed Vault,
seed banks can be assured that
the loss of a variety in their
institution, or even the loss of the
entire collection, will not mean
the extinction of the variety or
varieties and the diversity they
embody. The Seed Vault will have
a “spare” copy that can be
restored to the seed bank that
deposited it. When fully stocked,
the Seed Vault will contain
samples deposited by large and
small gene-banks, by those in
developed and developing
countries as well as international
institutions, by those that have
state-of-the-art facilities, and by
international standards.
3. Image courtesy Cary Fowler
In the case of a large-scale regional or even global catastrophe, it is quite likely

that the Seed Vault could prove indispensable to humanity. The Indian Ocean
earthquake on December 26, 2004, which sent massive tsunami waves of up to
30 meters that killed more than 225,000 people in 11 countries, underscores the
vulnerability to disaster. The looting of the Iraq and Afghanistan seed banks shows
the vulnerability to man-made upheaval. Indeed, those who first gathered together in
2004 to consider the feasibility of establishing such a facility were mindful of a wide
spectrum of what could go wrong and why a backup vault for seed collections was
necessary.
Given its location and construction, the Seed Vault would likely survive almost
anything. Of course, there can never be any absolute guarantees. But the basic
point is that we don’t need to experience apocalypse in order for the Seed Vault to
be useful and to repay its costs thousands of times over. If the Seed Vault simply
resupplies gene-banks with samples that those gene-banks lose accidentally, it will
repay our efforts a thousand fold.
The small team that conducted the feasibility study for the Seed Vault in 2004
quickly settled upon Svalbard as the best and perhaps only viable location for the
facility, for a number of reasons:
o In Svalbard, one can take advantage of the permafrost, which offers natural
freezing for the seeds, a key requirement for long-term conservation.
Additional mechanical cooling down to -18° Celsius, the international
standard, is easily accomplished.
o Svalbard is remote, and that remoteness provides security from human-

related dangers. It is, however, still accessible. Seeds can easily be
transported to and retrieved from Svalbard. The combination is unique.
o Military activity is prohibited in Svalbard under the terms of an International

Treaty.
o The political situation is stable. The local government is highly competent

and helpful. The local community also is small and supportive.
o Infrastructure is excellent. Locally mined coal provides power generation.

The area also has good communications links.
o The technical conditions at the site were virtually perfect. The location
inside a mountain obviously increases security and provides unparalleled
insulation properties. The area is geologically stable. Radiation levels inside
the mountain are quite low. Humidity is relatively low. And it was possible to
position the facility far above the point of any projected or possible sea level
rise due to climate change.
o There was experience in storing seeds and managing underground sites in

Svalbard. The Nordic countries have been doing so in a coal mine in
Svalbard since 1984.
o Norway is a trusted country. It also is unusually “global” in its outlook and

generous when it comes to supporting positive international initiatives.
Norway has no perceived conflict of interest in hosting the site.
o And finally, those involved in the conceptualizing of the project had close
ties with and access to policy-makers in Norway, facilitating consideration
of the proposal at the highest levels of government.
No other location in the world offered all of the above.
A number of factors determined the precise location of the Seed Vault. Ideally,
the Seed Vault needed to be near the village of Longyearbyen for ease of access
and transport of seeds. It needed also to be near an existing road. Roads are
expensive to build in Svalbard, and for environmental reasons one would wish to
avoid building new roads. The chosen site necessitated construction only of a short
access road off of an existing road. The site had to be away from coal seams which
could present a risk of fire or explosion, and might be the target of future
development. And it needed to be away from any cultural or historic relic. (A
protected old mining entrance is nearby but sufficiently distant.)
Most obviously, the Seed Vault is located inside a mountain. The mountain is
mainly composed of sandstone. The surface layer of rock is loose, the result of
repeated freezing and thawing for millennia. Beyond this, the permafrost area
begins and the rock is solid. The temperature at its coldest in the mountain is
between minus 4 degrees Celsius and minus 6 degrees Celsius. This is where the
actual vault rooms are situated. Past this, the temperature begins to rise again
until, of course, one exits out the other side of the mountain. Thus, the vault rooms
are in the coldest part of the mountain.
Even given worst-case scenarios for global warming, the vault rooms will remain
naturally frozen for up to 200 years according to the Norwegian Meteorological
Institute, and very cold and exceptionally well insulated for as far into the future as
one can imagine. Under any scenario, therefore, the Seed Vault remains, in absolute
and relative terms, the best possible location for providing secure and reliable
conditions for seed storage. If refrigeration equipment fails, the facility will remain
cold and the seeds frozen. There will be plenty of time to have the equipment
repaired before any damage is done to the seeds. The Nordic Gene Bank’s safety
backup collection in the coal mine is stored in slightly warmer conditions than will
exist naturally without mechanical cooling in the Seed Vault. There has been no
measurable decline in the viability of these seeds after more than 20 years.
The ideal placement of the vault rooms inside the mountain necessitated the
construction of a long tunnel, some 125 meters into the mountain. Equipment used
to build tunnels for highways was shipped in from mainland Norway for this
purpose. The original design called for two vault rooms, contingent on the structural
qualities that the workers found inside the mountain when tunneling began. The
original plan envisaged a total storage capacity of 3 million seed samples. However,
once inside the mountain, plans changed. Planners decided that a slight change in
the dimension of the planned rooms and the addition of a third room would improve
structural stability and strength, without appreciably increasing construction costs.
Each of the three vault rooms is approximately 27 meters long, 9.5 meters wide,
and 5 meters high. Entrance is through a set of air-lock doors, which serve primarily
to keep the cold air from escaping during the brief periods when people enter to
deliver or retrieve seeds.
The addition of the third vault room increased storage capacity by 50 percent to
4.5 million samples. At this size, the Seed Vault has considerable excess capacity,
and using current management guidelines, it is not likely to require expansion for
hundreds or even thousands of years. If expansion ever becomes necessary, a new
vault room could easily be tunneled out next to the existing rooms, or one of the
existing rooms could be expanded.
There is a single entrance to the Seed Vault, through the doors of the portal
building, a concrete wedge that protrudes from the mountain. This construction
houses a 10 kilowatt (kW) compressor that keeps the seeds frozen to minus 18
degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the optimal temperature range for
maximum long-term storage. The compressor is powered by locally-generated
electricity. During the initial cooling phase, an additional compressor was brought
in—a much larger one (30 kW) –to cool vault room number 2, the middle of the
three vault rooms. This vault will be used exclusively until it is full. During the cooling
down process, cold air was pumped into vault 2, freezing the rock area surrounding
it far below the natural permafrost conditions.
From the outside entrance into the portal building, one looks down a long and
surprisingly large tunnel. As one walks along this gently downward sloping tunnel,
one comes to several small rooms on the right side. One is an electrical room
housing controls for the compressor and other equipment. One is a transformer
room to which only the power company officials have access—this houses the
equipment needed to transform the incoming electrical current down to 220 volts.
And there is an office equipped with a computer with Internet access. The office can
be heated on a temporary basis to provide comfortable working conditions for
those that will log samples in and out of the Seed Vault.
Just beyond the office, the tunnel is walled off. Before getting into the vault area,
one first needs to go through a sturdy door. This allows the entire area around the
vault rooms to be very cold—even colder than natural permafrost conditions. It also
prevents the escape of this very cold air, increasing efficiency, and serves as an
additional security barrier.
Anyone seeking access to the seeds themselves will have to pass through four
locked doors: the heavy steel entrance doors, a second door approximately 115
meters down the tunnel, and finally the two air-locked doors. Keys are coded to
allow access to different levels of the facility. Not all keys will unlock all doors.
Electronic equipment will constantly monitor the temperature in the Seed Vault
as well as gas levels (methane and CO2) and transmit data constantly via the
internet to local authorities in Svalbard and to the Nordic Gene Bank. The Global
Crop Diversity Trust will also have access to this stream of information.
At the end of the tunnel, a concave carving in the rock is designed to send any
shock wave from any projectile causing an explosion back out of the tunnel, away
from the vault rooms.
The vault rooms themselves are located more than 125 meters on a horizontal
plane from the entrance and, vertically, are more than 150 meters below the
surface of the top of the mountain. Boxes of seeds inside the rooms are scanned
before entering the Seed Vault.
3 Image courtesy Cary Fowler

One sometimes hears the question: “Could the Seed Vault survive being hit with a
nuclear bomb?” This, of course, is a highly unlikely scenario, and the glib answer is
that it depends on how big the bomb is, of course. At this time there is no missile
capable of penetrating to the depth of the seed vault. Even the “bunker buster”
bombs are not currently able to reach to this depth with any substantial effect.
However, bunker buster systems now under development if armed with a powerful
nuclear bomb and if deployed directly at the Seed Vault, would send off shock waves
that could damage or destroy the facility.
3 Image courtesy Cary Fowler

SPACE COLONIZATION
Space colonization (also called space settlement, space humanization, or space

habitation) is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although
hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about
the first space colony. It is seen as a long-term goal of some national space
programs.
The first space colony may be on the Moon, or on Mars. Ample quantities of all
the necessary materials, such as solar energy and water, are on the Moon, Mars,
or near Earth asteroids and planetary satellites.
In 2005 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin identified space colonization as the

ultimate goal of current spaceflight programs, saying:
“the goal isn't just scientific exploration ... it's also about extending the range of
human habitat out from Earth into the solar system as we go forward in time ... In
the long run a single-planet species will not survive ... If we humans want to survive
for hundreds of thousands or millions of years, we must ultimately populate other
planets. Now, today the technology is such that this is barely conceivable. We're in
the infancy of it. ... I'm talking about that one day, I don't know when that day is, but
there will be more human beings who live off the Earth than on it. We may well have
people living on the moon. We may have people living on the moons of Jupiter and
other planets. We may have people making habitats on asteroids ... I know that
humans will colonize the solar system and one day go beyond.”
NASA published an article in 2005 stating seven elementary reasons as to why

we should colonize Mars:
o Its Similarity to Earth

o Its Scientific Secrets
o Its Diplomatic Potential
o Its Economic Value
o Its Location
o Its Home for Mankind
o Its Challenge for Mankind
MEGACITY TOWERS
Terrestrial habitats have persisted since the dawn of human civilization and why
not so. But through time man has overstepped limitations. The pressure on land
has been an ever increasing affair. Green covers have been lost, forests have
depleted, water has been polluted, water bodies lost, top-soils destroyed beyond
repair and there is more to come. Almost every urban planning undertaking has
been a failure owing to the unprecedented growth of various aspects of civilization.
Megacities forecast to exceed populations of millions by 2020. 9 City Towers
challenge assumptions about such future cities. They present a timely solution to
the social challenges of urban expansion on this scale and to the particular
problems of a metropolis, with its acute land shortages.
The towers would be capable of housing a community of a large number of
people, generating its own energy and processing its own waste, and with its own
transportation system, such vertical city quarters would be self-sustaining and
virtually self-sufficient. Such projects will demonstrate that high-density or high-rise
living does not mean overcrowding or hardship; it might lead to an improved quality
of life, where housing, work and leisure facilities are all close at hand.
Examples of such projects are:
o Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid, over Tokyo Bay, Japan
o Millennium Tower Tokyo, Japan
o Crystal Island, Moscow, Russia

UNDERWATER HABITATS
The human race only occupies about 30% of Earth’s surface, namely its land
masses. While it makes use of the remaining oceans and seas for transport and
fishing, their potential as living space for human beings has only been hesitantly
explored.
Underwater habitats have been a viable technology since the 1960s. They have
helped to facilitate scientific and technological research, functioned as training
grounds for submariners and divers, and helped open up the world under the waves
for the common man to see.
The first such habitats were constructed in the early 1960s by Jacques
Cousteau and his research team with the backing of the French Petrochemical
Industry. Other facilities followed, built by various countries and interests, spurred
on by scientific concerns and numerous Cold war projects. When that conflict
ended, many were shut down in the wake of decreased need and ever-shrinking
budgets. Today, only a handful of underwater habits stay in operation, including the
NOAA’s Aquarius Reef Base in the Florida Keys national Marine Sanctuary.
In the near future this may change. Underwater habitats are being seriously
considered as major tourist attractions, with at least two underwater hotels under
construction. If these facilities become a success, more would likely follow. As
environmental concerns with the oceans increase, new facilities may be set up to
study the intricate underwater ecosystems in numerous locales. Ocean-based
farming is also becoming increasingly popular, and permanent or semi-permanent
sub-surface facilities may be constructed to allow full-time tending by operators.
There has also been talk through the years about true underwater communities,
envisioned by corporations as showcases, by scientists as learning centers, by
military men as covert bases, by isolationist groups as refuges, and by adventurers
as a new frontier. A number of political, economic, and technological barriers have
kept that from happening as yet, but that may change as techniques advance in the
coming decades.
Subaquatic environments are just as complicated and just as potentially

hazardous to human life as deep space. In other words, they are one of the most
hazardous environments that humankind currently has access to. And unlike space,
homesteaders on the subaquatic frontier will also have to deal with host ecological
issues as well.
Like space stations, underwater bases have to deal with a number of factors in
order to make humans comfortable enough to live and work productively.
Types: There are three basic types of underwater habitats.
The first, open pressure habitats, exactly counter the pressure of the
surrounding water throughout their volume, usually by means of an easily-accessible
moon pool, though some also take advantage of airlocks as well. In these habitats,
the air pressure is equal to the outside water pressure, and special gas mixtures
may be necessary for facilities located below a certain depth. The main advantage
of this set-up is that it allows divers easy access in and out of habitat without
decompression procedures. However, access to the surface requires
decompression. An example would be the US’s old SEALAB facility, as well as the
underwater mobile mining station in the movie The Abyss and the sub-oceanic base
in the novel Oceanspace.
Most open-pressure habitats operate near the surface, usually within 30 meters
of it, where pressure acclimation is usually not a major issue. However, some will
occasionally be located deeper. Pressure open bases are usually cheaper and
easier to construct and maintain than closed pressure ones.
Closed pressure habitats usually maintain an internal air pressure similar to that
of the surface, and access in and out of facility is controlled through airlocks. The
main advantage of this set-up is that it allows easy access between it, like-pressured
submersibles, and the surface without having to go through pressure acclimation.
The main disadvantage of this set up is that it requires much more extensive and
robust pressure hulls and life-support systems, and any dive would require
decompression acclimation. Underwater hotels such as those proposed for Fiji and
Dubai, which is designed with casual tourists in mind, would be closed-pressure
habitats.
A third type combines both closed and open pressure schemes, with one part of
the facility, usually that associated with diving operations, built around and open
pressure scheme, while the rest is enclosed in a closed-pressure design. Airlocks
with adjacent decompression chambers would separate the two. Such a facility
would be more expensive than the other kinds, having to incorporate two types of
life support systems, but would offer the advantages of both kinds of habitats in one
facility. For example, the closed-pressure section would greatly facilitate the sending
and receiving of supplies and personnel from submersibles from the surface, while
open-pressure work areas can tend to the needs of divers as they work outside the
habitat. Most large underwater habitats depicted in science fiction are combined-
system habitats.
Pressure Hulls: Though underwater habitats are often compared to space
stations, there is one major critical design difference: space stations need to keep
the atmospheric pressure within them from getting out, whereas aquatic habitats
need to keep the outside water pressure from getting in. Though on the surface
these seem to be similar concerns, they represent dramatically different design
philosophies, especially when dealing with extreme conditions.
Pressure hulls underwater need to have rigid, reinforced structural skeletons

and need to be able to brace themselves against any possible buckling pressures
from outside. They are usually designed to disperse the structural stress evenly
over their surface area, hence many underwater vehicle and habitats designed to
be rounded and symmetrical, like tubes, ovoids and spheres.
Currently pressure hulls used for underwater habitats are reinforced steel, but
more advanced versions may use lighter and tougher composite alloys or plastics,
and graphene or carbon nanotubes may also end up being used in the decades to
come.
Air: Most underwater habitats have been supplied air mostly through bottled
tanks or by umbilicals to the surface. Advanced facilities in the future may take
advantage of artificial gill technology in order to draw breathable air right from the
surrounding water. Most modern facilities use atmospheric recycling technology,
similar to that on re-breather rigs, allowing them to keep the occupants in
breathable air for nearly as long as the habitat’s power and filters can hold out.
Gas Mixtures: The normal sea-level atmospheric gas mixture of nitrogen-oxygen
becomes hazardous beyond a certain depth, and could lead to potentially
devastating consequences such as the bends. While closed-pressure habitats don’t
generally have to worry about this, open-pressure facilities need to take every
nuance of pressure effects into account in order to keep their human occupants
healthy and active.
Open pressure habitats use many of the techniques pioneered for saturation
diving, but geared up for a large, multi-person facility. Much more detailed articles
on saturation diving and pressure effects on divers can be found in the links at the
end of this article.
Most commonly, helium-oxygen or hydrogen-helium-oxygen mixtures are used at
extreme diving depths (usually 50 meters or more below the surface), the ratio
depending on the exact pressure the diver experiences and how long he stays at
depth. Once acclimated to the pressure at a certain depth, a diver shows no ill
physical effects, though long-term health hazards may come into play if he is there
for too long, such as aseptic bone necrosis. Also, the helium-oxygen mix does have
some inherent disadvantages, such as heat retention issues and distorting voices.
The deepest an open-pressure habitat has operated has been at 183 meters.
Experimental tests show that dives down to 600 meters or beyond may be possible,
but the divers in those experiments experienced trembling and memory loss from
their experience. Its safe to assume that beyond 200 meters or so of depth, closed
pressure facilities are necessary for the purposes of human habitation.
Power: Most subaquatic habitats have so far used either batteries, or umbilicals
from the surface, or both, to provide energy needs. A number of such facilities from
science fiction have also used nuclear reactors. In the future, more advanced bases
may use tidal turbines, OTEC generators, or surface wave generators for electricity,
or may rely on geothermal taps in certain advantageous locations.
Temperature: Maintaining a comfortable work environment would be essential

for inhabitants. Water is forty times denser than air, and tends to easily drain away
heat from any source, especially in the deeper parts of the ocean. Besides just
being pressure-resistant, hulls of underwater habitats would also have to be heavily
insulated to help keep the interior comfortable for its inhabitants.
Construction: All underwater facilities have to date been manufactured in whole
on the surface and then lowered into place with cranes and cables. Very large
facilities in the near future may be constructed similarly to the ISS, with many
smaller modules interconnecting to form a larger base. No one has yet tried
manufacturing or assembling a facility from raw parts completely underwater,
though for some of the larger habitats discussed later that may become a
necessity.
Access: Some habitats can only be reached by scuba diving. Some bases can be
accessed by using vehicles that dock with one or more of the habitat’s airlocks.
Some closed pressure facilities may utilize elevators or submerged walkways that
go right up to the surface, especially if near shore.
Ecological Considerations: Undersea habitats have to worry about something
that their conceptual cousins, space stations, do not: the ecological health of their
surrounding environment.
Ocean ecologies are already under threat from a variety of sources; over-fishing,
pollution, invasive species, and global warming among them. Designers and
operators of any underwater facility have to proceed with a much more ‘green’
perspective now, than their Cold War predecessors. Most agree that healthy
ecosystems and biodiversity represents the true worth of the oceans, and trying to
minimize wide spread destruction of such should always be one of the top
considerations with the design of an underwater facility.
Waste management is a big issue, especially with larger bases and colonies.
Smaller habitats can just store their waste and send it to the surface for disposal.
True underwater cities will have to find other ways of dealing with this, either
through stringent recycling and/or using organic waste to help fuel aquaculture
(ocean-going farming) projects.
But even so, just the presence of a lot of humans and their machines is bound to
have an impact on surrounding marine life, and the more people who take up
residence there, the bigger the impact will. This could take many forms. For
example, humans may scare off many of the big predators, allowing certain kinds of
harmful creature like jellyfish to flourish that were previously kept in check. Waste
heat from the habitat and human activity may encourage the runaway growth of
certain types of microorganisms in the water, making it toxic to certain species of
fish. Industrial accidents could cause devastation to the surrounding ecology, as in
the case of oil spills or mid-ocean plastic garbage accumulations.
Any underwater human habitat, especially the larger kind, would have to weigh
potential benefits against the potential damage these conditions could cause. After
all, besides there is more than just moral and bigger environmental concerns at
stake; damaging the surrounding ecology could also jeopardize many habitats’
economic viability.
Some predecessors of Underwater Habitats are:
o Through the 1960s, the US Navy was experimenting with SEALAB l1, and
later ll and lll, a series of three underwater habitats that explored the
notion of human beings living and working at the bottom of the ocean for
long periods of time.
o Hydropolis
Hotel, Dubai
o Poseidon Undersea Resort, Fiji
o Red Sea Star Restaurant, Israel

o The Atlantica Expedition – First Under Sea Colony

Called the Atlantica Expedition I & II, it is a new endeavour to once again try
to establish a permanent deep-sea underwater human colony with several
stages of development. It is being led by Dennis Chamberland. Believing
that good preparation and planning will be the key to a thriving community
underwater as on land, Chamberland seeks to methodically study and deal
with potential problems of a permanent underwater habitat with the
establishment of Leviathan, the first underwater module, scheduled to
“launch” on July 4, 2012.
Other examples include:
o Conshelf 1,2 & 3, under France
o Tektite 1 & 2, General Electrics and NASA
o Hydrolab, USA
o Helgoland, Germany
o La Chalupa Research Laboratory, France

All the examples we’ve read about so far in this presentation, are either works in
progress or very recently finished projects.
Post-Apocalyptic Architecture is the umbrella under which different forms of
building purpose-built to withstand disasters of catastrophic proportions or
structures that manage to remain out of the domain of any disaster by virtue of
their construction, etc.
However, future prospects of this are still at an embryonic phase, from where it
can only grow into a positive outcome of ideas; something that helps comfortable
sustainability of the human race even in times of great environmental (or other
forms) of peril.
It must be understood that for the full-fledged development of an alternative
human habitat through this form of architecture will require a considerable amount
of time. A larger number of designer minds will have to be mobilized for such
projects to take any discernable shape in the near future.
The Environmentally conscious designer is looking for new ways to salvage what’s
important in this good earth and as is ironic, has gone back to mother Nature to
look for solutions. New Avenues are met with at greater rates. After the World
Wars, 7 decades of improvement in science has led us to believe that the damage
that has come along the way can be reversed to some extent.
Prevention is better than cure and following Nature’s lead of Adaptation for
Sustainability we may find a cure to the dangerously unfolding picture of global
climate. In recent years we’ve witnessed more natural disasters than normal, and
maybe the number remains the same, but with the kind of advancements that we’ve
made, one might contemplate the purpose of all the these scientific milestones.
Presently it is little more than an idea that could play an important role in the
suture of human sustainability; a contingency plan that could be a beacon of hope in
the distant future.
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/flash-floods,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/us-europe-floods
2. http://climateprogress.org/2010
3. ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/anomalies/annual_land.and.ocean.ts
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe
5. http://www.howstuffworks.com/bunkers/U.S.Army
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/tornadoes/hjk
7. http://www.howstuffworks.com/bunkers/U.S.Army
8. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Securing the Future of Agriculture (pdf)
9. http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/0504/default.aspx
10. http://orbitalvector.com/Aquatic/Underwater%20Habitats/UNDER
WATER%20HABITATS.htm
11. Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food
www.seedvault.no
The Government’s Web site for the Seed Vault
12. http://www.underseacolony.com/core/mainhub.html
13. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5182775641_8cb92d7e4d_o.
jpg
14. Special Report - Underwater House (pdf)
15. Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social–ecological
Systems – Brian Walker (pdf)
16. Energy Crisis, Climate Change and Alternative Solutions - Kevin Barb,
P.E. (pdf )
1. http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
2. United Nations Development Program – World Energy Assessment –
www.UNDP.org
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault_main_e
ntrance_1.jpg
4. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Securing the Future of Agriculture
(pdf file)
5. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Securing the Future of Agriculture
(pdf file)
6. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Mooncolony
.jpg
7. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons

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|Post-Apocalyptic Architecture

Sustainability is defined as meeting our current needs without compromising the

KEYWORDS: Apocalypse, Post-Apocalyptic Architecture, Catastrophe, Alternate

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Head of Department of

I am also grateful to many of my colleagues for their honest encouragements,

Nature, in its entirety, persists through adaptation, change being inevitable.

The dissertation is intended at exploring into such aforementioned possibilities

What will be the future of habitat?

How and where will living beings thrive?

What may become of our habitable environment, if a cataclysmic event of

What can we do through architecture, to persist in the occurrence of an event at

o The population on this earth is increasing drastically owing to which the

o Abnormal weather conditions are frequenting, with an increased

1. Image courtesy NASA Dataset

2. Image courtesy UNDP

2. Image courtesy UNDP

o Most of our Environmental dilemmas find root in or are directly responsible

 Polar ice – caps melting

o Man-made catastrophes are an equal worry, if not more. Nuclear disasters

What is Post-Apocalyptic Architecture?

Post-Apocalyptic Architecture, here, refers to that particular kind where the

o Existing structures with the purpose of withstanding hard-hitting

o Although, structures with similar withstanding structural capabilities are

o Current Global scenario points towards small and diverse pockets of

However, the trend is gradually catching up as Sustainability through Adaptation

Presently, there are various possibilities, although at an embryonic stage, that

o In Tornado prone areas of developed nations, bunkers are provided to air

SVALBARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT

3. Image courtesy Cary Fowler

3. Image courtesy Cary Fowler

In the case of a large-scale regional or even global catastrophe, it is quite likely

o Svalbard is remote, and that remoteness provides security from human-

o Military activity is prohibited in Svalbard under the terms of an International

o The political situation is stable. The local government is highly competent

o Infrastructure is excellent. Locally mined coal provides power generation.

o There was experience in storing seeds and managing underground sites in

o Norway is a trusted country. It also is unusually “global” in its outlook and

No other location in the world offered all of the above.

3 Image courtesy Cary Fowler

3 Image courtesy Cary Fowler

Space colonization (also called space settlement, space humanization, or space

In 2005 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin identified space colonization as the

NASA published an article in 2005 stating seven elementary reasons as to why

o Its Similarity to Earth

o Millennium Tower Tokyo, Japan

o Crystal Island, Moscow, Russia

Subaquatic environments are just as complicated and just as potentially

Types: There are three basic types of underwater habitats.

Pressure hulls underwater need to have rigid, reinforced structural skeletons

Temperature: Maintaining a comfortable work environment would be essential

Some predecessors of Underwater Habitats are:

o Poseidon Undersea Resort, Fiji

o Red Sea Star Restaurant, Israel

o The Atlantica Expedition – First Under Sea Colony

Other examples include:

o Conshelf 1,2 & 3, under France

o Tektite 1 & 2, General Electrics and NASA

o La Chalupa Research Laboratory, France

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