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Outer Space: The Latest Architecture and News

Hassell Unveils Lunar Habitat Masterplan, Aiming to Revolutionize Interstellar Living

Last week, Hassell revealed the Lunar Habitat Masterplan, a modular concept for a moon base. Developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Cranfield University, the project aims to contribute to the formation of the first permanent human settlement on the moon. Various renowned architects have previously contributed to space exploration through architecture. From Buckminster Fuller to Foster + Partners, BIG, and SOM, the architectural catalog in outer space has seen many advancements. Representing a significant set forward in interstellar exploration, this masterplan by Hassell hopes to support the development of a community on the moon.

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Trahan Architects Unveils Design for USA Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka

Trahan Architects has just unveiled the design of the USA Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka-Kansai in Japan. During the six-month expo, the proposal aims to showcase American architecture, innovation, culture, and industry. The display will be focused on celebrating contemporary American achievements in various fields, featuring exhibitions focused on sustainability, space exploration, education, and entrepreneurship.

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SOM Presents Vision of Lunar Settlements at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale

Invited to participate in the 17th International Venice Architecture Biennale, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) exhibits Life Beyond Earth, a vision for a Moon Village. Developed together with the European Space Agency (ESA), the installation presents a proposal for a sustainable ecosystem that would support human presence on the Moon, exploring the opportunity of expanding the scope of architecture. The project reaffirms the importance of space exploration while also highlighting its potential to advance knowledge that would help address issues on Earth.

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World’s First Space Hotel to Open in 2027

The first ever commercial space hotel, Voyager Station, aims to open by 2027. Accommodating 280 guests and 112 crew members, the project is being planned by Orbital Assembly Corporation, a construction company run by John Blincow. The station will be OAC's first major project, and the first commercial space station with artificial gravity.

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Outer Space 2020 Winners Announced

Blank Space has announced the winners of the second annual Outer Space competition. The competition asked architects and designers to leverage real scientific advances in robotics, AI, rocketry and autonomous spacecraft to create visions for the near future in outer space.The competition attracted thousands of participants, with winning entries showcasing narratives and images of architecture beyond the planet Earth.

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Open Call: Outer Space 2020 by Blank Space

We are on the cusp of the second great age of space exploration.

Outer space has always captured the imaginations of the public. New advances in technology (including comet landings, the Orion Spacecraft, and large scale social experiments leading to exploration of Mars) mean that outer space is no longer a place only astronauts will get to experience – but something you and I can experience within our lifetimes

For a long time, the fantastical visions of space exploration have been rooted in the scifi proposals of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Ring worlds, death stars and space colonies conjure vibrant, psychedelic

Outer Space 2019 Winners Announced

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Blank Space has announced the winners of the first ‘Outer Space’ competition. With submissions from over 40 countries, the entries explore future possibilities and technical breakthroughs through detailed stories and artwork.

The winners were chosen by a jury of 15 leading architects, designers, and technologists, including Chris Hadfield, Eduardo Tresoldi, David Benjamin, Chris Precht, and Sabrina Thompson. 

Keep reading to learn more about the three winning projects and 12 honorable mentions.

SOM Unveils Vision for First Human Settlement on the Moon

Skidmore Owings and Merrill have unveiled their vision for the "Moon Village", the first permanent human settlement on the Lunar surface. Developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the multidisciplinary project will be masterplanned, designed, and engineered by SOM.

Architecture Students Imagine a Moon Base with the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency has teamed up with a group of architecture students to speculate on the future design of sustainable lunar habitats. From the ESA’s astronaut center in Cologne, Germany, the organization challenged the students to draw on extreme environments in remote places, and speculate on sourcing and producing materials on the Moon to build a sustainable habitat.

Giving consideration to sunlight, temperature, and terrain, the design team developed a system of inflatable modules that can land at the base of a small crater on the South Polar Region of the Moon, where they will gradually fill the cavity with lunar soil until the modules are effectively buried.

Life on Mars? Foster + Partners to Showcase Extra-Terrestrial Habitats at UK's Goodwood Festival

Foster + Partners will detail its vision of life on Mars and the Moon at the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018. Forming part of the festival's Future Lab event, the vision will be presented through a range of models, robotics, and futuristic designs exploring the future of life in space.

The firm's showcase will include a virtual reality experience, allowing visitors to explore the inside of a proposed state-of-the-art habitation pod.

How to Design When There is No Gravity

Not many architects will come across the challenge of building in outer space, but who knows what the future will hold... asteroid mining and space photobioreactors? In a recent article, Metropolis Magazine looks into the design of the International Space Station, examining how our conventional rules of architecture become obsolete in zero gravity. Walls, ceilings, and floors can be interchangeable, and "form follows function" is taken to the extreme.

2018 marks 20 years since construction first began on the International Space Station. The satellite is made up of 34 separate pieces, each of which was either delivered by space shuttle or self-propelled into space. With absolutely no room for error, the 13-year construction of the space station was perhaps one of the big success stories of the millennium, seeing 230 astronauts, cosmonauts and space-tourists visit over the past two decades.