The Sublime Wedding (Thesis Booklet)

the

Sublime wedding

Jinn Jyh Leow 376016

Master of Architecture, 2015 Semester 1, Thesis

Studio 2 // Flirting with Space

Studio Leader // Christina Bozsan

v Dedicated to the 5 long years of architorture.

With special thanks to Christina, my wonderful studio leader, all my great studio mates of Flirting with Space, and my family for their incredible support this semester.

v

To see the world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.

“

“

Auguries of Innocence William Blake

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Content

v

Hypothesis

1

Thesis Statement

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The Faer y-tale Wedding

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Social Pr ogr ess

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Romantic Celestial Bodies

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Luna-tic Weddings

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Sex on the Moon

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The Sublime Wedding

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Appendix 1

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Appendix 2

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Refer ences

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Selected Bibliography

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h Hypothesis h

Weddings today seem to be more of a nightmarish chore of logistics and planning for the couple than a celebration of their union. The Moon, terra nullius et romantica, offers the opportunity for weddings to go back to its core and start anew. Despite that, earthlings still hold the notion of creating a “beautiful” wedding.

How then, can architecture mitigate this notion in the barren, desolate, and “grotesque” lunar landscape?

What would a wedding on the Moon look like when the traditional context is stripped?

How will the ceremony be altered to fit into a low-gravity environment where days are two-week long?

What is the architecture geared towards romance and intimacy?

I will be exploring these questions through the idea of “sublime”.

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h

Thesis h Statement

This thesis explores the concept of the sublime through a wedding on the Moon and the idea of courtship and desire. The thesis springboards from Derrida’s (1978) analogy of the sublime as the emotional equivalent of the bursting of a dam, in which the frivolous (and sometimes fake) traditions surrounding a wedding are removed and refocus the idea of a wedding back to the celebration of union of the couple instead. The ceremony is redesigned to build up an emotional crescendo through the initial separation of the couple which ultimately leads to an emotional “dam burst” at the end of the ceremonial walk when the couple finally unites. The architecture grows out of the designed ceremony, and exploits the alien conditions of the Moon to enhance the experience and bring it to the “sublime”.

This thesis argues that the sublime is the translation of a visual response (architecture-landscape relationship) to an experiential response (beholder-architecture-landscape relationship) which ultimately leads to the emotional response philosophers recognize as the “sublime” (projection of beholder’s awareness of oneself within the environment [including other people, i.e. the other half of the couple in this case]).

Derrida, Jacques (1978). Parergon, in ‘The Sublime’, Simon Morley (2010), ed., MIT Press, Cambridge.

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“You don’t alter Vera to fit you.You alter yourself to fit Vera.”

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The h Faer y-tale h

Wedding

Anthropologist Mary Douglas (1982) once remarked that “a competent young anthropologist arriving on this planet from Mars … [would] be perhaps baffled to make up his mind whether the central focus of the [wedding] ceremony was the marriage or the cake,” and to extrapolate from that, the wedding dress (trousseau). The rise of the extravagant, so-called ‘white wedding’ could be traced back to the 1920s but its boom is more modern than one expects – during the post World War II 1950s (Dunak 2013). A combination of factors such as the rise of bridal magazines, peer pressure from social media (Pinterest as one of the major culprits) and celebrity culture (looking at you, Kimye) has kept this form of exorbitant “traditional” wedding afloat and it still going strong today. What used to be small family occasions in the 18th century (Ehrman 2011) has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry today.

Weddings today are more of an excuse for the display of wealth and status and less of the celebration of the union. This project will tap into the bragging rights a wedding offers to create the ultimate fairytale wedding while at the same time, to bring the wedding back to the celebration of the union of the couple.

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I love you to the moon and back “Don’t tell me the moon is shining, show me the - Anton Chekhov glint of light on broken glass.”

Solar Panels

Arrival Wing Ceremony Aisle Honeymoon Tube Departure Hall

Reception Wing Guest Accommodation Launch Loop

SPACE WEDDING Week 1: Early Concept

Honeymooning around the world

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Social h

Progress

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Traditional gender roles are rapidly changing in our society with the rise of feminism and the LGBT civil rights movement has led to a wider acceptance of same-sex marriage. When the Irish voted to constitutionally recognise same-sex marriage on 22 May 2015, they became the eighteenth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage, along with 37 states in the USA and parts of Mexico while being recognised in Israel and Malta as well.

Therefore, the wedding ceremony as we know it should change. The new ceremony should be genderless and gender blind, equal for each half of the couple.

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12

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Rom a n ti c

Celestial Bodies

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Romeo: But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief, that thou, her maid, art fair more fair than she.

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2 William Shakesperare

Celestial bodies have long been held to witness the declarations of love from yearning lovers throughout the centuries. The Sun, the Moon and the stars‌ their unchanging beauty has long been held by the stereotypical lovesick lover as the ideal representation of eternal love, equal in purity and appearance to their other half. Yet they seem to be cast aside after the initial courtships when the other half has been won over. Now at the dawn of space tourism, it is time to bring them back into the matured phase of the romance – they could be a place for a destination wedding.

There are countless possibilities in outer space for a destination wedding, but the Moon has long held a special place in romance. Her prominence in the night sky and gentle light made her a great target for romanticising. It, after all, had once been a part of Earth. The Giant Impact Hypothesis proposed that the Moon was formed only after a Mars-sized object (Theia) impacted on proto-Earth, with the Earth absorbing most of Theia while the ejected debris formed the Moon (Taylor 2012). Moreover, the Moon is the closest celestial body from the Earth, making her the most accessible celestial body for a wedding to take place - the ultimate wedding that trumps all Earthbound celebrations.

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Mean Annual Income

mean wedding expenditure

%

69%

76%

Anual UK Income l Income

AUS

n wedding dding penditure ture 14

53%

69%

USA

UK

53% 53%

69% 69%

76% 76%

USA USA

UKUK

AUS AUS

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Lu n a - ti c Weddings

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“A bride once called my cell phone with an emergency: To ask what potatoes go with pork loin,” Jamie Radich, Loring’s sales and events manager, said at the time. “She wasn’t getting married for another year.”

quoted from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-the-wedding-industry-wont-tell-you-2013-04-19?page=3

As mentioned before, weddings had evolved from a small family affair to the extravaganza it is today. The fact that cost for an average wedding is calculated as a percentage of the annual income is quite telling on the high costs. However, despite the amount of money and time spent in the planning and logistics of their prefect wedding, the common sentiment found on bridal websites is that the day will fly by. Moreover, unforseen last minute changes and the unpredictability of the weather will definitely dent the “ideal” wedding planned. The amount of daylight hours on Earth is too cruel on the couple.

On the Moon, the lunar day extends to 14 Earth days and its lack of atmosphere means clear sky every day, giving the couple ample of time to enjoy their “day”. Moreover, the low gravity demands a more careful and deliberate movement, allowing for a slow wedding to occur where the couple could bask in and enjoy every moment of the wedding.

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BIGELOW LUNAR BASE LAYOUT

TRADITIONAL CHURCH PLAN

SCHEMATIC PLAN

AGE, 2013

KAPOOR, ARK

SCHEMATIC SECTION

CTURE, LEAF CHAPEL,

ERY AT VIK, 2014

INE GALLERY, 2014

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UTRINO DETECTOR

STAGE, 2011

R CHAPEL, 2011

Week 4 Development

Wedding Aisle designed to preserve footprint when exchanging vows.

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VOW IMPRINT

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A -D

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MALAPERT MASSIF - “PEAK OF ETERNAL LIGHT”

- ALWAYS SEEN FROM EARTH - HOVER AROUND 0OC

LUNAR SOUTH POLE

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PRE-WEDDING PARTIES ON TRANSIT - GUEST CHOOSE FOOD TO BE 3D PRINTED BEFORE TAKE OFF

- HEN NIGHT AND STAG PARTIES IN TRANSIT MODULE

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NE

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MONUMENT OF LOVE Ceremonial Ring Visitor Walk Zone -

TO LIMIT DISTURBANCE ON LUNAR SURFACE

Week 4 Development

Site and exterior view

Bondage? Not everyone likes it.

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Se x

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on the Moon Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction

The Moon itself is intended as a honeymoon destination, and that usually entails the couple having sex. However, the Moon only has about 16% of the Earth’s gravity. As a result, the consummation of the marriage will be tricky in this low-gravity environment due to Newton’s Third Law of Motion. In the context of lunar coitus, it means that for every thrust, there will be a rebound as there is too little gravity to weigh the ‘thruster’ down, making the continual thrusting action ineffective and tiring. Current proposals for sex in low-gravity environments seem to involve some form of bondage but that has the social stigma of falling on the kinkier side of sex while also limiting the manoeuvrability. Moreover, the bondage methods also does not exploit the fact that at 16% gravity, it falls right on the border where people could tell ‘up’ from ‘down’ (Harris et al 2014), which means that there are opportunities for the couple to explore sexual positions usually not possible on Earth.

Hence, the honeymoon suite is proposed to be a room of inflatables.

Inflated balloons will provide grip and a surface for the couple to engage in coitus while also encourages the exploration of the threedimensionality of space with the spaces create between balloons. In the deflated mode, the soft fabric becomes the surface for relaxation and sleeping. Some of the balloons will be perpetually inflated and toilets, showers etc could be placed within them.

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Spatial Concept

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Honeymoon with the Lunar Amazing Copulation Enclo earth gravity: 1.00G lunar gravity: 0.16G Minimum Gravity for perceptual upright: 0.15 - 0.30G

osure

The

Sublime Wedding

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The

Su bl i me

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“The sublime experience is fundamentally transformative, about the relationship between disorder and order, and the disruption of the stable coordinates of time and space... reason falter and certainties crumble.�

The Sublime, p.12 (2010) Simon Morley

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The emotion philosophers roughly categorised as the “sublime” is one of the awareness of personal limitations and the transcendence of that (the spatio-temporal world) to the moral and religious absolute (Tsang 1998). While Jacques Derrida (1978) had written that sublime is better presented in raw nature than art, Lap-Chuen Tsang (1998) has argued that the sublime could exist in everyday life – a good samaritan’s act, a school boy in the presence of the duchess, divine Providence, and unconditional love. The idea of the sublime, it seems, is rooted in the power of the conflict of emotions aroused due to the knowledge of one’s inadequacy, and exists only in the eyes of the beholder.

Hence, there are parallels of the idea of the sublime in a relationship, in which a couple getting married is commonly described as “perfect for each other” due to the fact that each is inadequate on their own but together they are able to transcend that. Thus, the thesis argues that weddings are sublime occasions, especially for the couple themselves, as for one to feel that the other half complements oneself, they must be aware of their own inadequacies. The sublime is no longer aroused by an object, but a person, and the feelings are mutual. Perhaps this is the reason weddings are so emotional – it is a combination of happiness, excitement, uncertainty, fear, lethargy et cetera; a celebration of the bursting of Derrida’s emotional dam (see Thesis Statement) at the moment of the union as the couple has transcended the physical world into each other’s lives.

As beautiful as the Moon is on the night sky, the 1969 Moon Landing proved that the lunar surface is hostile. The Moon is a lifeless, barren landscape without an atmosphere and as a result receives the full impact of the solar radiation and micrometeorites. From an Earthling’s point of view, it is simply ‘grotesque’.Yet the power of this grotesqueness could be harnessed to amplify the emotions of the wedding, as the power of the landscape is always used in outdoor weddings as a backdrop to the ceremony. The clash of the ‘grotesque’ landscape and the ‘beautiful’ wedding can be carefully curated to create an emotional crescendo leading up to the moment of the union.

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h

Mid - Se m e s ter Initial Explorations

h

CURRENT POSITION : // CRATER PLATFORM EXTERNAL TEMPERATURE : // 85OC INTERNAL TEMPERATURE : // 26OC DISTANCE TO UNION : // 2120.67 M DISTANCE COVERED : // 999.72 M DISTANCE TO NEXT CHARGING STATION : // 638.89 M OXYGEN LEVEL : // 63.2 % BATTERY LEVEL : // 59.3% EST. WALKABLE DISTANCE : // 752.00 M DISTANCE TO SPOUSE : // 1002.39 M DISTANCE TO ENABLE RADIO CONTACT : // 1030.78 M RADIO CONTACT : // NOT ESTABLISHED _

1000

0m

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CURRENT POSITION : // ECHO POINT EXTERNAL TEMPERATURE : // 101OC INTERNAL TEMPERATURE : // 27OC DISTANCE TO UNION : // 881.19 M DISTANCE COVERED : // 2279.08 M DISTANCE TO NEXT CHARGING STATION : // 251.95 M OXYGEN LEVEL : // 32.2 % BATTERY LEVEL : // 25.9% EST. WALKABLE DISTANCE : // 320.00 M DISTANCE TO SPOUSE : // 500.45 M DISTANCE TO ENABLE RADIO CONTACT : // 0.00 M RADIO CONTACT : // ESTABLISHING ESTABLISHED _

500 m

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CLIMB LADDER SANCTUARY

GOLD COATED VECTRAN SPHERE ELECTROSTATIC RADIATION SHIELD GENERATOR

RADIATION PROTECTION BOUNDARY

SOLAR PANEL

OXYGEN REACTOR

THE SUBLIME WEDDING 0

CHARGING STATION 1:200 2 4 6 8 10m

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15 o4 8’

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CHARGED RADIATION PARTICLE

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SANCTUARY PLAN 1:500

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HALL OF PRISMS AIRLOCK

3D-FOOD PRINTERS

RECEPTION HALL

TO HONEYMOON SUITE

THE SUBLIME WEDDING SANCTUARY SECTION 0 1:200

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Em ot i o n a l

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Explorations h of Colour and Space

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My dearest Anja, Oh darl, you have no idea how much I dread writing this.

I can’t adequately spell out the love we share, you know.

It is this feeling that I get – every time I look into your eyes, and you look back into mine, my heart jolts and shudders at the same time. I feel stronger – but also weaker. Truth is, I can’t find a word that could describe this feeling for the sheer luck that I have found a partner whom I had once gave up in finding, and I wasn’t ready for it, except I know what kind of man I want to be.

Of my unchanging heart, to quote Beethoven, Ever thine.

Ever mine.

Ever ours. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Laurence

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Dear dear Laurence, When I was growing up, I didn’t have a normal family like everybody else. Passed from foster family to foster family, I always knew that something is missing. How would I ever imagine that the missing piece is brought to me by a skunk in a shopping cart?

Laurie, you are the only thing I ever need. You are my soul mate, my best friend, my confidant, my life buoy in the rocky sea.

Whenever I think of you, I am home.

LOVE YOU Anja

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Fin a l De s i g n

h The h

Ce re m o n y

1 Arrival Each half of the couple launches away from Earth in separate capsules and will land on the Moon 2.4km apart - the distance of the lunar horizon after 3 days of separation. There will be no radio contact between them.The couple might just be able to know each other’s presence by way of the dust cloud created during the landing. A hole cut in the dust shield points to the next checkpoint.

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1I The Aisle The couple starts to walk down an ‘aisle’ that converges at the climax point. The path is symmetrical and have 3 nodes along the way that allows some form of contact between the couple, plus another 3 shelters. Oxygen and battery supply is limited so that one can only reach the next shelter to recharge but not meet each other. The power of survival is being exploited to keep the couple separated and build up emotion.

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III Across the Abyss there’s Light This is Node 1 where the couple could have the first direct visual contact. A 65m path is cut into the landscape and opens out into a lunar crater. The viewing plarform frames the view to the other side of the crater where an identical structure is placed for the other half.

As one climbs the ladder, a series of reflective plates will move. Since there is no wind on the Moon, the light shimmering seen across the abyss could only be made by the partner, and thus establishing each other’s presence. A slide points to the golden ‘tree’ which is the shelter for recharging.

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IV Shrine of Love Letters Node II is essentially a door leading to a window. It is a structure made mainly of microwaved lunar soil. A red door marks its location within the landscape, and once inside, a yellow ‘lightbox’ marks the end of the hallway. Love letters written by the spouse will be placed in the lightbox beforehand and read. The ‘lightbox’ is designed to that the reader could lean on their elbows while reading, and it opens to look directly at the other side where is other half reads their love letter. The body language creates a sense of yearning for the other half. After reading, the love letter could be enshrined between the slits in the walls and roof, changing the light quality of the space over time.

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lunar microwave lawnmower

(Source: NASA)

microwave lunar glass

moon dust

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V The Ring Bearer Node III is the ring bearer. The ring - a symbol of commitment is such a small item for an important social contract. Hence, the ring bearer is a structure that visually exaggerates the sheer weight of the commitment.

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VI Final Approach A series of fins mark the beginning of the final approach to the union hall. The fins are angled to open up the views to the the side and towards the other half where their silhouette could be seen moving across the fins. It also starts to envelop the person before the airlock.

Once within the enclosed aisle, a song chosen by the other half for them is played. The aisle is divided into 3 segments, each designed to evoke the sublime in different manners - scale and field of colours to evoke an emotional response; slits in the wall for a fragmented image of the other half; the monochromatic final stretch that acts as the ‘curtain drop’ before the climactic moment.

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VII The Climax A wall of prism splits sunlight into its prismatic colours and bathes the union hall in rainbows. The couple looks across the hall on the altar with guests already waiting and prepared (they arrive on the third landing point near the union hall). The space had been designed to take advantage of Moon’s low gravity (16% of the Earth’s) and encourages the exploration of space in 3D. The couple finally sees each other in their best and unites amid the deluge of rainbows.

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Segment 1

Segment II

Section showing Guest Rooms, Altar and Honeymoon suite following spread: Main Section showing Altar, Honeymoon Suite, Banquet Hall and Semi-outdoors Marquee 108

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Appendix 1 h

Ea r l y Seme s ter Explorations

Why do we travel?

112

h

MARCH 2074

50 YEARS ON

MARS

The Decline and Revival of Space Exploration

VALOUR QUADRANGLE Permanent Population: 52

Towards Singularity 72 The Mixed Blessings of Green Technology 88 Reviving Extinct Species 104 The Prodiguous Maize 120 The Australian Dilemma 130

By David Bowman Photographs by Elena Tyzack

I

nside the protective bunker I waited with the rest of the members of Section 2, straining my ears trying to listen to the whirring above as the dust storm passes over the only human settlement on Mars, Valour. Minutes melted into hours, and it was 12 Martian hours later that we emerged. “You’re lucky,” one of the permanent settlers, Amelia Brand, said to me. “The last time we were in here, we had to wait for three weeks before the storm dies down. Welcome to Mars.”

Such dust storms are a fairly common occurrence on the red planet. Mars is a dusty planet with low thermal inertia, which means that the surface heats up and cools down rapidly with a diurnal swing of around 100K. This creates the Martian wind that picks up the ancient dust, and when coupled with the low gravity (about 38% of the Earth), dust storms like this could be a planetwide event that could last for a month.

That was how Mars greeted its first ever tourist.

After spending seven months in close proximity with another three persons though, 12 hours in a bunker with new people is rather welcoming.

Robert ‘Boba’ Fett, our Section’s leader, gave me the briefing and induction on the Martian daily life. “It is not that different from living on Earth,” said Fett, “Just that you are only allowed to venture out of the Marshmallows for three hours every three days.” Marshmallow is the affectionate name for the Living Units in the settlement.

Valour is located at 32.3°S 63.0°E on Mars, which is the lowest point in Hellas Planitia within the Hellas impact basin, about 7,000m below the standard topographic datum of Mars and a full 9,000m lower than its rim. For comparison, if the David Bowman profiled the consturction of LUNA-1, the first public lunar hotel to be constructed using lunar materials, in the May 2064 issue. Photograper Elena Tyzack’s most recent story was “Slaves of the Information Era,” for the February 2066 issue.

36

NAT IONAL G E O G R A PHIC • MA RCH 2 0 7 4

foot of Mount Everest starts at Valour, one would still require to build half an Eiffel Tower before breaching the basin’s rim.

In such depths, the atmospheric pressure is 89% higher than that of the standard topographic datum (though still only 1.15% of that of Earth’s atmospheric pressure at sea level), that had allowed the occasional formation of liquid water on the surface. While liquid water is abundant on our blue planet due to our warmer climate, they are incredibly rare on Mars. Hence, this allows the direct collection of water and save energy on water mining that extracts frozen water from the Martian soil. Every bit of energy saved is crucial as new supplies from Earth are getting more and more reluctant.

The bunker is built 5m into the sloping face of the basin to provide protection against the solar radiation. Martian atmosphere is thin and lacks the ozone layer to absorb incoming ultraviolet radiation from the sun. In order to save the cost of material transport from Earth, the best option was to utilise the Martian soil as the primary shield against UV radiation.

From the outside, the protective bunker looks unassuming but the interior is complete with a rather large common area, a food pantry on the other end, sleeping quarters (hammocks) and toilets to the sides. It seems that inflatable furniture is popular on Mars. “There’s also a game room in the floor below, you will not have come to Mars

Dust storms like this are not uncommon on the red planet. The “cloud� could reach a few miles high and could last for a month. The Valour settlement is dwarved in comparison. The radio tower to the left is about 300m high.

These semi-automatic water extractors trudge along the outer edges of Hellas Planitia, digging up ice-rich soil to extract the water locked within. Water is not only used for drinking and cleaning, but also to generate oxygen via electrolysis for breathable air.

without playing ping pong in 38% gravity,” said Brand.

The Marshmallow itself is no more different than the protective bunker, similarly equipped but for the individual rather than the group. “Redundancy is crucial to our survival. That’s the number one rule on Mars: always ensure the backups are in the optimal conditions,” Fett said. “Double check everything, every morning.”

In fact, the name “Marshmallow” is quite a misnomer as the eponymous structure is the mere entrance to the subterranean living quarters. Valour is more a series of connected tunnels than the familiar image of white inflatables dotting the landscape. Even the farms are located underground as

been dwindling due to exorbitant cost overruns in the successive launches as well as competition from the more affordable and much shorter trips to the Moon.

Nyota Uhura, the last surviving members of the first four pioneers recalls, “We required a lot of supplies from Earth in the first few years as we have underestimated the harshness of the Martian climate. The crops did not establish well and the dust storms were harsh on the Living Pods.”

By the time of the arrival of the second crew with auxiliary supplies two years later, the First Four were close to starvation and psychological break down. As more supplies are sent, the prices for subsequent missions rose. The support plum-

Article 3 Everybody, earth-bound or otherwise, has the right to life, liberty and security of person. -United Nations no plant so far could tolerate the high UV levels on the surface. Valour is still largely reliant on hydroponics and “natural” light tubes for their farming. Only a select few species of fungi could survive on the surface, and even then within one of the Marshmallows where the temperature and pressure is more Earth-like. It seems that Terraforming has still got a long journey ahead.

A series of air locks separate the Valour tunnel system into distinct sections and could be engaged within tenths of a second in case of depressurisation. Fett told me that the last time the air locks were engaged was 17 years ago. A particularly strong dust storm had blown off one of the Marshmallows. Upon the Post-Emergency Evaluation (PEE), they uncovered a design flaw in which one of the bolts holds both the inflatable structure as well as the pressure door. “No one anticipated the sheer force of that particular dust storm.”

50 YEARS ON since the first group four explorers left Earth for the one-way trip to Mars in 2024, public support for the Mars One programme had 40

NAT IONA L G E O G R APHIC • M ARC H 2 0 7 4

meted, and launch missions to Mars is reduced from once every two years to once every seven.

The coup de grace though, was the introduction of the controversial Martian Life Support Levy, more commonly known as the Mars Tax to help fund the programme.

There were 16 people, most of whom are researchers, in the colony when support and funding were at the lowest in 2040. Valour is not a selfsufficient colony yet at that point, hence the lives of these people are at stake. There were talks about bringing the people back.

UN stepped in and sparked the debate on whether basic human rights apply on Mars. The scientific community unanimously said yes, but the rest of the world was more divided. The first thought that too much money had been wasted on another planet when there better uses for the money to save more people on Earth, plus they volunteered themselves to go there anyway. The second group thinks that those on Mars are pushing the frontiers of humankind and should be helped as much as possible.

Three years later, the second group prevailed and

The location of the Valour settelment on Mars. It is chosen for its warmer temperature and higher pressure. due to the depth and distance from the equator.

it was decided that human rights matter wherever they may be. The subsequent missions brought supplies from Earth to build a return rocket in the Valour settlement should any of the settlers decided to return. It was so far unused, but that was about to change.

It took a further 26 years to re-instil the interest in Mars. In November 2072, one of the astrobiologists, Kathryn Janeway, found the first traces of possible fossilised microorganism in one of the rocks blown up in an explosive boiling event in the Hellas Basin close to the colony, now known as the Miracle Point. That re-sparked the interest in Mars and the funding was once again stable.

By this time, however, Valour is almost self-sustaining.

The sun was delicate and diffused when I finally get the chance to step out and appreciate the tranquil beauty of the Martian landscape for the first time since my arrival to help Fett to collect stone samples around Miracle Point. Soft light hits the ancient ochre rocks and they shone in the vivid red Mars is famous for. “That’s as sunny as it gets on Mars,” says Fett as he bent down to examine

some Martian basalt.

More explosive boiling had created more gutters around Miracle Point in the fast few months and Janeway is positively optimistic. “Given its geological history and chemical composition, Mars was very Earth-like for much of the time. Life was definitely possible. I just need more samples to conclusively prove it.”

When asked about the possibility of Terraforming, Janeway is less enthusiastic, “It is ironic that given my job description I should be excited about that, but I have to be honest here: we just can’t pump the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere here fast enough. “ Mars’s lack of magnetic field makes it vulnerable to solar winds that constantly strip its atmosphere away. “Unless we can somehow restart and heat up Mars’s iron core, Terra-forming will remain in the realms of Sci-Fi.” Marshmallow, a pale blue dot shines in the Martian night sky. That is Earth, seen 225 milion kilometres away. “Seeing Earth every night,” says Brand, “it just reminds me how far we’ve come as a species.”

BACK IN THE

50 YE A RS ON MA RS

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h

Appendix 2

De ve l opm e n ta l

h

Works

129

Sketches of The Aisle and Union Hall

130

Sketches of The Nodes

159

Node 1

160

Node 2

164

Node 3

166

h

References

h

Derrida, Jacques (1978). Parergon, in ‘The Sublime’, Simon Morley (2010), ed., MIT Press, Cambridge.

Douglas, Mary (1982). ‘Food as an art form’ in In the Active Voice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London Dudak, Karen M. (2013). As Long As We both Shall Love: The White Wedding in Postwar America, New York University Press, New York.

Ehrman, Edwina (2011). The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal Fashions,V&A Publishing, London.

Harris, L.R., Herpers, R., Hofhammer, T, Jenkin, M. (2014). ‘How Much Gravity is Needed to Establish the Perceptual Upright?’, in Plos One, from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal. pone.0106207#pone.0106207-DeWinkel1, accessed 4 June 2015 Taylor, G. Jeffrey (2012). Origin of Earth and Moon, from http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=446, accessed 4 June 2015 Tsang, Lap-Chuen (1998). The Sublime: Groundwork towards a Theory, University of Rochester Press, New York

168

h

Selected

Bibliography

h

Botta, Mario (2010). ‘Light and Gravity’, in Mario Botta, Ji-seong Jeong, ed., CA Press, Seoul, pp.6-8 Burke, Edmund (1757). A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful, in ‘Burke: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful’, James T. Boulton, ed. (2008), Routledge Classics, New York.

Charsley, Simon R. (1992). Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Routledge, London.

Dawkins, Richard (1998). Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder, Penguin Group, London.

Derrida, Jacques (1978). Parergon, in ‘The Sublime’, Simon Morley, ed.

(2010), MIT Press, Cambridge.

Douglas, Mary (1982). ‘Food as an art form’ in In the Active Voice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London Dudak, Karen M. (2013). As Long As We both Shall Love: The White Wedding in Postwar America, New York University Press, New York.

Ehrman, Edwina (2011). The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal Fashions,V&A Publishing, London.

Harris, L.R., Herpers, R., Hofhammer, T, Jenkin, M. (2014). ‘How Much Gravity is Needed to Establish the Perceptual Upright?’, in Plos One, from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal. pone.0106207#pone.0106207-DeWinkel1, accessed 4 June 2015 Hoffman, Eva (2009). Time, Picador, New York.

Ji, Cheng (Ming Dynasty). Yuanye Tushuo, Zhao Nong ed. (2003), Shandong Shubao Publishing, Jinan, China Kuma, Kengo (2007). Anti-Object:The Dissolution and Disintegration of Architecture, Hiroshi Watanabe (trans.), AA Publications, London.

Perez-Gomez, Alberto (2006). Built upon Love: Architectural Longing after Ethics and Aesthetics, MIT Press, Cambridge

169

Taylor, G. Jeffrey (2012). Origin of Earth and Moon, from http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=446, accessed 4 June 2015 Tsang, Lap-Chuen (1998). The Sublime: Groundwork towards a Theory, University of Rochester Press, New York Zanco, Federica, ed. (2001). Luis Barragan: The Quiet Revolution, Barragan Foundation Vitra Design Museum,Switzerland Zumthor, Peter (2003). Atmospheres: Architectural Environments – Surrounding Objects, Birkhauser, Basel

170