The Denver office of Stantec is leading the design for a major upgrade to McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Parsons, a subcontractor to the Leidos Antarctic Support Contract, selected Stantec, through a competitive process, as the lead designer and design manager on a design-build team for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science (AIMS) project.
AIMS is designed to ensure that major portions of McMurdo Station—the logistics hub for the NSF-managed U.S. Antarctic Program, and the largest research facility on the southernmost continent — remains a state-of-the-art platform capable of supporting world-class Antarctic science for the next 35 to 50 years. The project aims to ensure that the final design embodies an aesthetic that conveys the importance of NSF as a world-leading science agency and responds to the station’s unique location.
McMurdo Station was built more than 60 years ago and has grown organically in the interim. Many of the station’s buildings are aged, obsolete and energy inefficient. An independent review of the U.S. Antarctic Program in 2011 determined McMurdo required upgrades to achieve more cost- and energy-efficient and logistically streamlined operations.
“We’re thrilled to work with Parsons to support the Leidos team on this groundbreaking project,” said Merlin Maley, Stantec’s principal and project manager for AIMS. “We have extensive experience collaborating on complex design-build teams, and designing with functionality, aesthetics, sustainability and wellness in mind. We look forward to leveraging that background to lead the design of McMurdo Station’s new campus in one of the most challenging environments on earth.”
“With Stantec’s experience working in extreme environments and remote locations, we’re very pleased to have them on our team for this important work in Antarctica and the nation,” said Dave Bird, Parsons program manager.
Rendering courtesy of Stantec
