The_Ark_(Prince_Edward_Island)
The Ark was a bioshelter constructed in Spry Point, Prince Edward Island, designed by architects David Bergmark and Ole Hammarlund,[1] who relocated from the USA to design the project under their firm's name Solsearch Architects.[2] The other major contributor was a New England ecological research center, called The New Alchemy Institute, which conceptualized the PEI Ark. The goal of the New Alchemy institute was to study non-violent and non-lethal methods to secure the future of humanity as stated by one of the project's participants.[2]
The New Alchemy institute also gathered together intellectuals and activists from ecological and economic movements to promote and work on the PEI Ark Project. Precedents and inspiration for the Ark building were sourced from E. F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful, Amory Lovins "soft energy paths" concept, and Buckminster Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.[3] Construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1976. The Ark incorporated sustainable architecture technologies developed by the New Alchemy Institute.[4] The end goal of the project was to test if a sustainable building could be built in a harsh Northern climate. A secondary objective of the Canadian government was to test green technologies.
The project was successfully built and gained international media attention in 1976. The cost of the project was $150,000 to construct.[5] The government provided the property for the project and the federal and provincial governments gave grants consisting of a total of $350,000 for research.[5] Four individuals lived in the Ark for about 18 months from its opening in 1976, demonstrating its potential as a residential structure. It was then used for research in alternative energy by the government of Prince Edward Island.[6] Over the next decade it was used for various community and commercial activities, including a motel, before being sold and converted to a restaurant in 1991. The restaurant was sold in the late 1990s and the building was demolished.[5] Today, the Inn at Spry Point stands on the former site of the Ark.