Although appearing remote and isolated, polar and space architectures are always interconnected with the rest of the world. On 11 May 1957, Rear Admiral Richard Byrd passed away in Boston, marking the end of the Heroic Age of polar exploration and following the deaths of Roald Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott and others. On 1 July, with the inauguration of the International Geophysical Year, permanent stations were constructed in the Arctic and Antarctic, rockets were launched, all in the name of science, and many times for defence as well. This research frames the year 1957 as the beginning of polar and space architectures, as polar and space exploration were no longer a personal enterprise or adventure, but a recognised profession and established national programme. The shelters constructed in polar and space environments are self-contained social and technological entities and functionally condensed to survive and, in addition, fulfil a specific task. Such condensation reflects the expectations and imagery of a desired future; they are products of social programming. Polar and space architectures are fine specimens, whether built or not, allowing us to observe the convergence of social, political and economic conditions behind their creation, and are themselves sometimes obscured in our home societies. With few scholarships available in previous years, particularly on polar architectures compared to their space counterparts, those architectures remained more as an engineering topic than an architectural one. By studying polar and space habitats as a discipline of architecture, this research aims to integrate them into discussions of architectural history and theory.

Feihao Zhang holds a BA in Architectural Studies from the University of Toronto and an MSc in Architectural and Urban Design from Politecnico di Milano. She is a second-year PhD candidate at the Architectural Association. Her thesis integrates polar and space habitats into a unified architectural history and theory. Feihao has explored polar and space architectures alongside topics such as housing and cultural landscapes since 2022.