Portable Igloo

Portable Igloo is a trekking cabin that is composed of three different materials – snow, Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), and poles. These basic portable materials build the armature and uses snow as a main building material, which yields heat energy released toward indoor space in the same mechanism as an igloo. The poles are fixed on firm glacial ground to support whole loads for the cabin, while the ETFE is flexible and transparent so it can be folded, thus making it portable for the user. The whole process of building the trekking cabin is similar to building a tent. The ETFE covers the pole structure, and snow can be added to the surface. The users’ body heat melts the snow on the ETFE surface to become water, and the heat energy is distributed inside the cabin.