Building on the shores of the Arctic Ocean: conexes and metal stack it up.

AuthorLavrakas, Dimitra
PositionSPECIAL SECTION: Architects & Engineers

Locals call it the "Lego hotel." Jokes aside, it's intrigued adults and delighted children to witness the stacking of conex boxes to build Arctic Slope Regional Corporation's (ASRC) new hotel in Barrow.

While ATCO trailers, similar to conexes, are not uncommon as hotel rooms along the Alaska Highway, a large assemblage of the corrugated weathering steel containers is an arresting sight in the Alaska Arctic. But their sturdy construction will help them stand up to the elements that will pound them from the Arctic Ocean only a few yards away.

Malcolm McLean, founder of SeaLand Service, Inc., developed the modern intermodal shipping containers. Calling it Container Express, it was abbreviated to ConEx and eventually boiled down to conex. The invention allowed goods to be moved safely and securely from ship to trail to truck, or the opposite direction.

Transportation for construction materials was provided by a chartered barge from Bowhead Transport, a subsidiary of Ukpeagvik Ifiupiat Corporation (UIC). UIC is Barrow's village corporation. The modules and other freight were barged from Anchorage to Barrow in early fall 2013.

"This is not new construction for the Arctic," says Ty Hardt, director of communications for ASRC. "Due to the limited construction season on the North Slope, we felt the modular construction was the best approach to get the hotel completed quickly and on budget. Other Alaskan hotels that have used modular construction are the Aurora in Deadhorse and Grand Aleutian in Dutch Harbor/Unalaska."

Built on History

The new hotel isn't on just any patch of dirt--it's near a very important site of Barrow history. Right across the street the iconic bowhead whalebone arch and skull, a weathered walrus skin umiaq, and the ice cellar sit on the shores of the Chukchi Sea, and all are part of the Top of the World tour.

Here, in 1885, Charles Dewitt Brower, the first non-Native whaler, set up his business, the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Co. The whaling station is now a bustling construction headquarters, while his home next door sits vacant.

The area around the whaling station eventually became known as Browerville, a suburb of Barrow. Brower's descendants have been, or are, mayors of the North Slope Borough, whaling captains, magistrates, and artisans.

For many years, the station housed Brower Cafe, where one could often look out on the ocean and see what appeared to be a piece of ice of moving in a different direction. It was...

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