INTRODUCTION

Since 1972 no human has walked on the Moon. This is about to change within the next few years. The ‘new space age’ with a number of governmental and private entities is targeting for a settlement on the Moon within 2030, as per Artemis’ mission goals. In contrast to the Apollo missions , men and women from all over the world and with a variety of cultural and social backgrounds will become the next Moonwalkers. They will live and work in an extreme and isolated environment for a much longer period. Therefore the architectural design and formulation of the habitat is key for mission success as well as for physical and mental health.

The cross-cultural experimental design course Lunar Oasis - Architectural Visions for an Integrated Lunar Habitat has been initiated between Dr. Sandra Haeuplik-Meusburger and Dr. Paolo Caratelli, both board members of AIAA-SATC (Space Architecture Technical Committee). The idea was joining together the undergraduate Sustainable Design course at Abu Dhabi University, and the postgraduate Space Architecture Design Studio at TU Wien into a multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural design experience, envisioning a collaborative international milieu.

Three sections of the undergraduate Sustainable Design course at Abu Dhabi University, and the Master Design Studio at TU Wien, for a total of 60 students belonging to 24 different nationalities, attended online the Lunar Oasis Design Workshop which lasted from 30th of August to 22nd of November 2021. The goal was to experience how designing for habitats in space, the most extreme of the environments, could help in addressing energy and resources issues more responsibly also on Earth. In short, the opportunity to design for a lunar habitat could represent a powerful driver for a better understanding the issues affecting our ‘ordinary’ terrestrial environment.

Students were therefore introduced to the architectural design for habitats in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments, such as deserts, polar regions, high altitudes, underwater, and outer space, including habitable spaces for vehicles such as submarines, airplanes, driverless cars, and spacecraft. Challenges and design consideration of individuals and organizations responsible for manned space missions and mission simulators were considered, including planetary settlements, and technology spinoffs for terrestrial austere environments (e.g., remote operational and research facilities, hospitals, prisons, manufacturing, etc.). The aim of the course was to equip students with general insights on the socio-spatial relationship and the important topic of sustainability from environmental and social sciences, engineering, industrial design, and architectural standpoints.