Experimental preservation of an arctic settlement Piramida on Spitzbergen
This chapter discusses the variety of solutions put forward by participants in the competition for architecture students on how to deal with the embodiment of a Soviet utopia of the 1950s–1980s in the Arctic: the unique settlement called Piramida or Pyramiden. After the political events involving Russia in 2014, which also had a negative effect on collaboration in the Arctic, the architectural competition focussing on a Russian settlement on Spitsbergen could have been regarded as a challenge to Russia's interests, if it had acquired international resonance in the political sphere. The Norwegian architectural competition 120 hours was initiated by students of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design in 2010. Its original aim was to create a platform to present projects by Norwegian students to the worldwide architectural community, but it quite rapidly acquired an international character. The Russian projects stood out little among others produced with talent and at a fairly high professional standard.