As if construction were not difficult enough in the icy wilderness of Svalbard—an archipelago halfway between Norway and the North Pole—concerns about the global coronavirus pandemic have postponed plans by Oslo architecture firm Snøhetta to move forward with a sleek visitor’s center and exhibition space at the main island’s Global Seed Vault, which stores the world's preeminent seed collection.
The vault is a secured space carved into a mountain base under permafrost near Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s main settlement, with a population of 2,368. Its seed collection is a genetic trove of food crop and agricultural varietals including 1 million samples covering 5,000 plant species. The vault opened in 2008 as a backstop for gene banks around the world, storing plant genetic resources against the threat of biodiversity loss due to man-made or natural disaster.