Calypso

Abstract

The project Calypso is a deep-sea research station on a re-used floating oil platform. As our technical facilities are developing increasingly the equipment of marine research do too. The developing methods will lead to different ship designs in terms of flexibility and size. Nowadays the moon has even been more explored, than the world's oceans - which is nowadays approximately 2 %. Due to technical limitations the ocean floors and the deep sea in particular, are still unexplored territory. The development of technology is fostering new research designs and new methods of exploration. This in turn creates more access to knowledge to scientists as the role of deep-sea territories become eminetly important to ecosystems worldwide. My approach is to re-use a former floating oil platform as a deepsea research station. As the floating platform is not limited to depth of the water, it can be installed anywhere on the world's oceans. The idea is that 100 people will workd and live for a six-month period of time on such a platform, flor exploration. As such a platform is often out of reach of stocks of basic sources such as food, potable water and electricity, it will have to be self-sufficient. It can be seen as an autarchy i.e. a small independent and self-sufficient city. The following project shall therefore explore issues such as; missing infrastructure, self-sufficiency, social problems in interaction in isolated communities. The following chapters give an overview of oil platforms, the ocean in general and the deep-sea. More importantly, my design approch for a deep-sea research center will be put forward.