Spaceport America began construction last Friday
22
Jun 2009
Spaceport America, the first spaceport ever began construction last Friday in New Mexico. The spaceport, designed by Foster + Partners and URS Corporation will host commercial operations by private space travel companies, like Virgin Galactic.
The 110,000-plus square foot facility will use cost-effective, energy-efficient green building practices and will be built to be LEED-certified. From earth-tubes that will pre-condition the air to reduce HVAC costs by 50-70% to solar thermal panels on the roof for hot water to the embedded in-floor loop system, Spaceport America is both unique and iconic in terms of visual and environmental design.
Seen at Gizmodo. More images after the break.
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Is a really nice project…..its design is like another world!!!!!
I believe, that Dulles Airport (with the beautifully designed main terminal by Saarinen) , was actually constructed to have the ability of a spaceport.
It’s like the space ship in “Idependence day”
labia
The form looks like the cylon fighters from Battlestar Galactica.
Its great they are using some high teck sustainability features but it begs the question if this is a good use of resourses to begin with. I’m not sure space tourism is really that important for humanity when there are millions of people starving and without adequate access to water and shelter.
Funny, really funny. Is there anybody able to explain, why to build such energy-efficient green building, when one flight with tourists, who REALLY NEED to be in the space befor they die, will spend all that spared energy? Aproximately, of course :)
this building reminds me some ideas of F.LL.W.
Impecable detailing and finishing.
the future comes…
I don’t like it, it’s ugly as sin to me.
I wonder how much they contaminate with the fuel for the spaceships, a hell lot a might say.
This looks to be the best project coming out of the Foster offices in a while. It is also the first truly inspiring piece of travel-related architecture that I have seen in a very long time.
One thing I particularly like is the symbology of the structure. This is an important branding exercise for a nascent industry and the form seems to call up all of the right cues from Roswell, X-Files, Saarinen, D.T.E.S.S., and even Buck Rogers. Tom Wolfe made a very important point in his great book “the Right Stuff” with the phrase “no bucks, no Buck Rogers”. Space tourism is a romantic proposition that absolutely requires appropriate architecture to attract interest and capital.
In the end, of course, this isn’t really a spaceport at all. The infrastructure is no different from an airport. This is a small airport.
This makes the technological experimentation that Foster has undertaken here even more important. The platform to spaceplane distance looks very short here, a feature that is sorely lacking in most modern airports. The use of efficient systems is very appropriate for the site and the New Mexico climate. There look to be significant gains to be made here for general aviation owing to clients who are predisposed to experimentation.
Of course, it is no surprise to hear the same old tired arguments that have dogged exploration throughout history (Magellan and Pigafetta must have heard them too). There are always going to be those who prefer to sit at home and solve XYZ problem first. Thankfully, that sentiment has never prevailed.
Terry Glenn Phipps
interesting building and ecologicaly sustainable! a green building to support tons of pollution made by some enriched people…
In fact i was talking about space tourists not Neil Armstrong, other astronauts and NASA at all. Do you really think that this tourist flights are equal to Magellan exploration? In my opinion it’s just entertainment, nothing more. If this would be NASA basecamp, I have nothing against.
Yes, I think suborbital space tourism will be enormously beneficial in promoting private initiative in space exploration. As a matter of fact some companies like Space X are already winning contracts to do work that NASA is far too bloated, inefficient, and antiquated to do.
Furthermore, Ferdinand Magellan was on a commercial expedition to find a western route to Indonesia, an important destination in the spice trade. His circumnavigation was accidental, a happy result of the failure of his initial project.
That said, my opinion is mostly about the architecture and not the politics.
Terry Glenn Phipps
@Terry
I agree with your statements about airport architecture. The current configurations take up way too much space and entail a massive amount of their own infrastructure to run. Have you seen the radial airport by Grimshaw?
http://www.core.form-ula.com/2009/06/17/next-generation-airport-grimshaw-architects/
Apparently, a radial organization allows for a much more efficient use of space, facilitating access and movement. Reminds me of the Coloseum.
Here’s another Foster project that does NOT do that.
http://www.archdaily.com/1339/beijing-airport-foster-partners/
The Grimshaw project is exactly the right kind of thinking about infrastructure. What is weird is that this all seems like it should be so perfectly obvious and it doesn’t seem to be. Why wouldn’t an architect consider the distance from plane to train or plane to automobile as the first consideration? This was predominate thought when buildings like the TWA terminal were built but it seemed to evaporate with the premature death of Saarinen. HIgh time for a return in my opinion.
reminds me of the spaceport on Tatooine where Solo blasted Greedo
:)
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