What is Residencia like, the fascinating hotel for scientists in one of the most extreme places in the world

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It is easy to miss the building known as the Residence in Chile.

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Designed to blend into the Atacama Desert, its entrance is located behind a heavy unmarked door, at the foot of a shallow ramp.

On the surface you can barely see anything but rocky plains and mountains.

Above them, the occasional bird of prey crosses the dry air.

But, upon entering the Residence, one enters a green oasis. The first thing you feel is the humid air on your skin, generated by tropical trees and plants that grow in the soil of the central atrium.

Under a large dome, lies a bright blue pool.

If it looks like a Bond villain’s lair, that’s because it was. In 2008, a crew filmed the finale of the Bond film “Quantum of Solace” there, using the hallways, terraces and exterior as a set. Notice of spoiler: Bond (Daniel Craig) arrives… and there are a lot of explosions.

The rest of the time, however, Residence is not for movie stars, but for watching them.

It is a hotel, but not one that is open to the general public. Its more than 100 rooms are occupied by astronomers and engineers who work at nearby sky observation facilities, such as the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located at the top of Paranal Hill, a few kilometers away.

Owned and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Residency was designed to facilitate research in one of the most extreme environments on the planet. The BBC spent a few days there recently and got a taste of what it’s like to live and work as a scientist in this hidden desert oasis.

The Residence has a hidden entrance.Located in the midst of the harsh conditions of the Atacama—a two-hour drive from the nearest city, Antofagasta—Residence is a remarkable work of architecture. In fact, in 2009 the newspaper “The Guardian” included it among the “10 best buildings of the decade”.

But what makes it especially unique is that it was designed from the beginning with astronomy in mind. In addition to creating a comfortable, humid environment that serves as a relief from the desert, one of its key features is the way it maintains darkness in its surroundings.

The ground-based telescopes at ESO’s Paranal Observatory can be affected by the slightest amount of light, which is why various measures are taken to reduce light pollution.

At night, you have to be careful when walking outside, because cars must turn off their main lights while driving. There is no other source of light outside except the flashlight that each person carries with them — and there are strict instructions to always direct it towards the ground.

To ensure that the Residence also remains dark, the rooms have few windows, and any other glass surfaces are covered with solid shutters at night. In the atrium, the translucent dome that keeps the plants alive during the day has a cover that unfolds every sunset.

Despite its location in the middle of the desert, life at the Residence is surprisingly comfortable: those who stay there have access to abundant food and spaces to relax in their free time, although there is one notable absence: alcohol. It is prohibited due to the altitude and the risk of dehydration.

The complex is located more than 2,000 meters above sea level, with almost non-existent air humidity outside, and previous briefings warn of the risk of feeling lightheaded or nauseated.

For these reasons, and because of the intense ultraviolet radiation, it is recommended to exercise outdoors with caution: it is not a place to go running without warning.

Life in Residence also follows a cyclical rhythm. In addition to carefully observing the movement of the stars, scientists alternate day and night shifts.

Every morning, day shift astronomers drive or bus up to the nearby VLT to perform maintenance, develop algorithms, or design future observations.

Meanwhile, engineers staying at the Residencia travel to the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), an even larger facility currently being built on Armazones Hill, about 20 kilometers away.

Later, as dusk falls, it is tradition to watch the sun set over the Pacific while the astronomers take over at their shift change and the night begins. In the dark, telescopes can finally be activated to observe the night sky.

And what a night sky. If one wakes up at 02:00 and walks out the back door of the room directly onto the desert floor, one will see a dazzling star show. At the top of the mountain, the VLT can be seen projecting its laser into the atmosphere, guiding its observations of distant objects in the cosmos.

With such a light and dark atmosphere between Earth and space, few night skies on Earth are as impressive. This is one of the best places in the world for astronomy from Earth.

During the nights that the BBC was there, a chain of 20 or more connected satellites could be seen passing by, small dots that crossed the dense curtain of the sky one after another. It was even possible to distinguish other galaxies with the naked eye: the Magellanic Clouds, which appeared as greenish spots on the black background.

The VLT has been behind some of the most important discoveries of the 21st century so far, from the first image of a planet outside the Solar System to advances in understanding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

What is Residencia like, the fascinating hotel for scientists in one of the most extreme places in the world

ByEditor

By Editor

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