A new 8,500sq m (91,500sq ft) science centre has opened in the Artic community of Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen – the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway.

Raised on 390 steel poles to withstand its harsh Artic environment, the star-shaped, copper-clad Svalbard Science Centre combines a new space for the Svalbard Museum with an expansion of the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), a new space for the Norwegian Polar Institute and a cultural and historical storage area for the Governor of Svalbard.

Oslo-based Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS Architects designed the building as an extension to the existing university and research building in order to expand its capacity fourfold.

The museum aims to explain the relationship between nature, culture, landscape, technology and the local environment through the social history of human activity in the region over the 400 years, alongside facilities for further scientific research.