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PBI Buggy House

By : Blouin Orzes architectes

GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 14th edition

Discipline : Architecture

Categories : Residential Building / Prefab Home : Silver Certification

Polar Bears International (PBI), an organization dedicated to the protection of our polar bears, is established in Churchill, Manitoba: a city in close proximity to the migratory trajectories of polar bears towards the Hudson Bay.
It is within this context that PBI wanted to equip itself with accommodation for its researchers in residence. The programme, which included eight cabin-rooms lent itself well to a prefabricated construction strategy. This strategy oriented the formal development of the project towards a simple volumetry inspired by “Tundra Buggies”. These safari like black and white vehicules bring researchers and tourists to observe polar bears in their natural habitat.
The building was entirely prefabricated in a workshop in Winnipeg and delivered by train to Churchill, from where the onsite assembly was completed in 12 days. The Building envelope is constituted of insulated panels containing the exterior finish in pine, doors and windows and the interior finish in Baltic Birch Plywood. The sanitary facilities (toilets and showers), the mechanical room and the kitchen module were all constructed and equipped in the workshop, delivered on site, and deposited on the floor structure before closing the building. This prefabrication method, perfectly adapted to the context of construction in Northern areas, reverberates within the fineness of details and quality of interior spaces.

PBI Buggy House

By : Blouin Orzes architectes

GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 14th edition

The project in images

INT.DESIGN Magazine

PBI Buggy House

By : Blouin Orzes architectes

GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 14th edition

The project in images

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