We will tell you why all this is needed.
Yakut millionaire Arsen Tomsky (lives in the USA) sponsored an unusual experiment of scientists. Built in the tundra, on the permafrost, the house was closed with a giant dome. And for several months they settled there volunteers - a couple in love. Winter passed … the dome passed the test. But the relationship of lovers? Correspondents of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" managed to communicate with participants in an unusual experiment.
Dome and permafrost
- Hello, Vitaly? Hello!
An unusual house is located 35 kilometers from the capital of the republic, Yakutsk, it is tundra, there is permafrost around, but the cellular communication is excellent.
After a month of living in the house, the couple broke up Photo: provided by NEFU.
Vitaly Litvinov found himself under the dome on December 2, 2019, together with his girlfriend Regina and the cat Zach. There were many applicants, about 60 couples. But they chose them - a simple 30-year-old stretch ceiling installer and his girlfriend Regina (they are not married, but live together).
Promotional video:
“It was just an ad in a local newspaper,” Vitaly says. - A lot of people responded. First, we “weeded out” those who would be simply uncomfortable to live in the house - for example, pregnant women and people without a car. Then the rest for various reasons. As a result, there are three families left. We, as the main candidates, and two more pairs are reserve. Why were we chosen? Mainly because they are physically strong. I am well prepared. I have been practicing combat sambo for 15 years, as they say, I will not leave the distance.
- Why did you need it?
- Just wondering. Before that he lived in an ordinary apartment building. And here - freedom, no neighbors. Well, the situation is unusual, of course. Thanks to the dome, there is no wind, no noise from the road, no precipitation, it is warmer than outside.
The dome consists of a steel frame and frost-resistant film Photo: courtesy of NEFU.
- Are you here all the time, or do you go to work?
- Of course I work. In the morning I go for a run to the nearest mountain, then work, the gym and again here.
How the dome works
To make it clearer, we drew a diagram.
How everything is organized Infographics: Irina PYZHEVA / kp.ru
In fact, this is a wooden house of 128 square meters (living area - 64)
It is divided into two sectors. One part is a garage for two cars, and 64 "squares" - living quarters.
In it: two bedrooms, bathroom with shower, toilet, kitchen, living room.
Of course, there is no running water or electricity - you won't be pulling the networks on purpose.
Water is brought in by a water truck. Arranged septic tank.
Heating - from a long burning boiler. I loaded coal once a day, set the temperature - and you can forget about it until the next day.
Steel dome with frost-resistant film on top.
Diameter - 20 meters, weight - over 6 tons.
The idea of the house under the dome belongs to the Yakut millionaire Arsen Tomsky (pictured on the left) Photo: courtesy of NEFU.
Why is all this needed?
Arsen Tomskiy is a well-known start-up far beyond the borders of the republic (a person who develops new projects with the aim of earning money on them later). He is the founder of the international online passenger transportation aggregator InDriver (more than 10 million users worldwide). He is also called the Yakut Elon Musk (American entrepreneur, inventor and billionaire - approx.).
The “House under the Dome” project team Photo: courtesy of NEFU.
The story is mutually beneficial: scientists of the North-Eastern Federal University are conducting their research on the project - both the effectiveness of know-how for housing in extreme conditions, and how the permafrost will behave under the dome.
To keep track of this, scientists drilled 7 wells 14 meters deep, installed temperature sensors. If the soil is "led", then the dome will simply be removed. A negative result in this case is also a result, it will become clear that the technology is not worth implementing.
Arsen Tomsky, if the experiment is successful, can give way to a new business. If the experiment is successful, domes may appear over other houses or, for example, over playgrounds in Yakutsk. Of course, in winter such houses are warmer, which means that it will be profitable to build domes.
The winner, Vitaly, says that life in a house is better than in a standard apartment Photo: courtesy of NEFU.
“This is our joint project to test dome technologies,” confirms Dmitry Filippov, dean of the road traffic department of NEFU. - We provided a testing ground and scientific potential - specialists, equipment, everything necessary for control measurements. We monitor, for example, whether soil degradation will begin, and so on.
As for the prospects in terms of housing construction, for example, when in winter outside the dome we had minus 56 degrees, below it - minus 42. This greatly reduces the cost of heat. And we, of course, expected it to be warmer under the dome, but not that much. There is no heating, insulation, thermal chambers or thermal films inside, the dome is just an enclosing structure, nothing more. But it turned out that it works like a "battery" of solar energy.
House 2
From the outside, it all looks like a reality show. But there are no video cameras, Vitaly says.
- The organizers have no goal to follow my life. True, we are always in touch. There was a funny case: a measles outbreak was recorded in Yakutsk, and I just bought myself a new shampoo. I just washed myself - the next morning a rash. Well, I think that's all - measles, my project is covered. I contacted the doctors (they look after me) and say: "Looks like I have measles." You can't imagine what started here. The ambulance arrived, the doctors came running. Like an astronaut (laughs). It turned out to be a banal allergy.
Living here is more interesting than living in an apartment, but physically more difficult.
When you come back after work, you can't just throw bones on the sofa. We need to check if everything is in order. The most difficult thing is not to skip the gasoline generator, the electricity in the house is organized from it. From time to time it stalls and you have to find out what is the reason. In freezing temperatures of minus 50 it is not very convenient to do it, you have to drag it into the house - and it weighs a centner. But now I still have a generator in reserve.
Vitaly has to decide everything himself, right down to buying groceries home - no one promised him a free paradise under the dome. We ask - is he paid as a participant? But this cannot be disclosed by agreement.
However, in part, life under the dome is not only a scientific experiment, but also a reality show like "House-2".
Life under the dome, Vitaliy admits, has turned a lot differently. Their couple … broke up.
“It happened a month after settling in,” he says reluctantly. We had a big fight, and we could not make up. Because of which? It's hard to say now. Regina simply could not live under the dome. But her cat Zach, by the way, on the contrary, there was expanse - he settled down well, but not destiny!
It's just that when you start living with a person in more difficult conditions than a city apartment, you immediately see what a person is. This concerns her and me, she probably looked at me differently too. But I'm even glad, in other circumstances, maybe for a long time I would not have seen that we are not suitable for each other. And here - thanks to the project.
Nadezhda ILCHENKO