Extreme renovations: Antarctic hut gets a new lease of life
With an International category covering the Asia Pacific region, New Zealand has submitted what is undoubtedly the most “out there” of the 286 entries into this year’s Dulux Colour Awards.
Restoring an otherwise plain building erected in 1957, the interior and exterior paint jobs have faithfully reverted to mid-century colourations. The orange and yellow of the exteriors are very retro if not always seen in combination.
But the point of the foundation paintwork on Hillary’s Hut at Scott Base in the Ross Sea region of the Antarctic was not in consideration of fashion but of survival.
In a white-out blizzard in a white-on-white winter landscape, explains the NZ-based Antarctic Heritage Trust, finding shelter could be the difference between life and death.
“In 1957 the intense orange and yellow of Hillary’s Hut was a beacon to those caught out in the weather”. Pilots also used it as a landscape reference.
The repainting of Hillary’s Hut from the utilitarian green that continues to demark the other buildings at Scott Base was the summer occupation of 12 AHTNZ volunteers who collectively put in 5700 hours to conserving 500 artefacts and getting the building ready for last January’s celebration of the Base’s 60th anniversary.
“Hut A”, or Hillary’s Hut, was raised at Scott Base for the tractor-reliant 1957 Trans Antarctic Expedition to the South Pole that the Everest climber, Sir Edmund led and that according to Trust executive director Nigel Watson, “marked the birthplace of Kiwi leadership in Antarctica. It’s a valuable slice of Kiwi history”.
Before: Hillary’s Hut circa 1997. Photo: Supplied
It is also the fourth hut the Trust has restored in the Ross Base area since the heritage project commenced in 2006. Set up in 1987 to conserve and share the spirit of epic polar exploration, the Antarctic Heritage Trust has previously consolidated two huts pertinent to Robert Falcon Scott’s 1901 and fatal 1910-12 expeditions, and Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Hut pertinent to the failed 1907-9 expedition.
The next to be conserved will be the hut at Cape Adane of the 1899 Norwegian expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink who is held to be the pioneer of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.
Fascinating not only as artefacts, these humble shelters are remarkable for the fact that – as the Trust puts it, “they preserve the first dwellings that humans built in Antarctica”.
After: Hillary’s Hut today. Photo: Supplied
Having used Dulux products on Hillary’s Hut, a process that the Trust’s program manager Al Fastier explains involved recovering original paint sample from beneath all the overpaint, doing deep research through Sydney’s Living Museum, and then having Dulux technicians match the exact interior and exterior hues, also qualified the project to enter the Commercial Exteriors category of the 31st Dulux competition.
Inside the various room of Hut A that include the mess room, radio room, Sir Edmund’s room, the cold porch and kitchen, multiple colours were matched to modern colour charts and came to include Rosepink Villa, Sceptre Blue, Murray Red and Vivid White.
The gaiety of the scheme was, according to the Hut’s original architect, “an endeavour to contrast with the conditions outside”.
The eye-popping exterior colours gained new names after last summer’s conservation campaign and are now known as “Sno-Cat” after the tracked vehicles used in the 1957 expedition and “Pram Point” after Scott Base’s geographic location.
Now, with Dulux’s painting tips for getting the best results advising only to paint when temperatures are between 10-35 degrees Celsius, how did the volunteers go about the job using standard household product?
Al Fastier says the teams “only painted the exteriors on fine warm days and when the sun was on the aspect of the building being painted.
“Painting in sub-zero temperatures is a challenge with wind chill or storm conditions often rendering outside work impossible. With persistence and cold fingers, the Trust’s team achieved a remarkable transformation, even using brushes rather than rollers to achieve a 1950’s finish as the men would have done it.
“One coat of undercoat followed by two top coats was applied with brushes to provide the appearance of the original texture.”
- The Dulux Colour Awards that reward “exceptional use of colour” will be announced on May 10.
