What is the inside of McMurdo station like?

Answer 1

Everyone eats in the same dining hall (sometimes the food is quite decent) in the main building at the center of the town which also houses living quarters, the small general store/video store, the computer lab, barber shop, and offices such as H.R. and Housing. The living quarters are mostly crummy dormatory style with up to four people to a room. Most people work 60 hours a week (6 tens or 5 twelves.) Depending on the season it is 24 hours of daylight or 24 hours of night. There is a two lane manual Bowling alley, two main bars, gyms (exersize, weight, and Basketball), library, craft room, climbing room, etc. all a little more primitive than you are picturing. And there is a place to rent cross country skis and other fun stuff. As far as how it is; It's either a love/hate feeling that has enough love to draw you back for multiple seasons or it's an inescapable hell prison that causes you to contemplate breaking one of your own bones to get yourself a ticket home.

Answer 2

McMurdo Station is a one-square-kilometer area covered by loose lava gravel, and on which has been built several buildings. Because the station was first populated by the United States Navy, many of the buildings are named after corresponding ships functions.

For example, the building where the station's cafeteria is located is called The Galley. (An original building from the 1950s, in includes offices and living quarters, too.)

Otherwise, buildings look like buildings built in a hurry during the gold rush in many pioneering locales. They are built from excess supplies that are unused by armed forces, and are thus deployed as surplus to Antarctica.

Because there is no zoning. per se, buildings were built wherever they could be built.

Today, there are a few newer buildings, the science building for example, that was designed for and built on the site for the scientific work carried out there.

The roadways are used by trucks, Catepillars and pedestrians. In front of most buildings, electric 'warmer' plugs are available, so that the engine blocks on the vehicles don't freeze overnight, or the vehicles are left running during lunch breaks during the day, so they don't freeze.

The interiors of the buildings are Spartan at best and always functional.

There is a non-denominational church there, The Chapel of the Snows, which is the only architecturally significant building.