The extreme climate and the material and energy resource limitations that condition human activity in the Antarctic are the starting point of this project proposal, which aims to design a sustainable modular building to lodge field researchers in the antarctic. A significant amount of data on existing infrastructures, building materials, and users' expectations was obtained during the 2014 campaign. The objective for the coming 2015/16 campaign was to monitor the behaviour of a reduced scale model (the size of an individual tent), under the harshest possible climate, during one year. The model was tested in terms of durability, structural resistance (to strong winds) and thermal performance, in order to assess the best possible solutions for the final design. The model's envelope was constituted by different samples of cork sub-products (testing insulation and durability properties). Data loggers were placed inside the model, for year-round measurements.