When you build in Narsarsuaq, you don’t start with form. You start with wind.
Agroprojekt Ilua’s greenhouse will stand in a landscape where the weather does not behave politely. Official records show wind gusts of up to around 47 m/s. These are real figures. But they are measured at a single point, and they say little about what happens a few hundred metres away, where the terrain opens up or where wind is funnelled through the fjord.
We could have designed for the average. We chose not to.
Instead, we design for what the structure must withstand — not for what is most likely. In dialogue with the Danish Meteorological Institute, it is clear that local wind conditions can vary significantly, and that strong winds are a permanent part of reality in Narsarsuaq, now and in the future.
That is why we have set an upper design threshold of 65 m/s.
This is not a forecast. It is a decision. A greenhouse in the Arctic cannot rely on luck. It must stand when conditions exceed expectations.
This choice runs through the entire project and is built directly into our collaboration with Arlaplast and LQ Kunststoffen. Both companies work with technical polycarbonate solutions for demanding climatic and structural environments and contribute directly to the development of the greenhouse envelope.
Together we focus on panel build-up, fixings, joints and edge zones — the points where wind actually meets the structure. Not to make the greenhouse heavy or complex, but to ensure predictable behaviour under high loads.
The wind cannot be removed.
It can only be taken seriously.
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