Pouyan Bizeh - Thesis Book - spaceXile by Pouyan Bizeh

spaceXile Speculating Futures of Social Punishment in Outer Space

Pouyan Bizeh May 6, 2016

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University at Buffalo, State University of New York in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Architecture Department of Architecture

In Memory of an Inspiration: David Bowie

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents

I would like to thank my family: Abbas Bizeh Shabnam Moshgbiz Parisa Bizeh

INTRODUCTION 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

TREND OBSERVATIONS

My thesis committee: Mark Shepard Jordan Geiger

Shipping the Convicts

Space Program: Mars

Conditions of Outer space Inhabitation THE FUTURES 6 CRITICAL, DESIGN FICTION 8 PRECEDENTS 9

My dear friends: Mahan Mehrvarz Sepehr Salehi

Moon Walking Machine

METHODOLOGY 13

And members of faculty: Nicholas Bruscia Sean Burkholder Julia Jamrozik Ang Li Virginia Melnyk Korydon Smith Hadas Steiner & Beth Tauke

MAIN STRATEGY 13 PHASES 14

Phase One: Situating the main story

Phase Two: Stuff Design; Design the Fiction Phase Three: Perform the Stories THEMES/ACTS 17

THESIS OUTCOME: spaceXile

ACT I: SPONSORED RESEARCH

Velcro-adobe

Who helped me during a wonderful year.

Form Finding Construction Process

Solitary Cells Food and Agriculture

Greenhouse and Aeroponics System Seed printing System

Camps

ACT II: REALITY TELEVISION

ACT III: COLONIZATION

Waste Management System Gas Cleaning Human Exploration Unit

spaceXile Corporations A Martian Suicide

CONCLUSION 40

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 01: HMS Success Figure 02: Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center (Robert Almeida) Figure 03: Mars One Program (Mars One) Figure 04: Cone of Possibility (Via Stuart Candy) Figure 05: Space Program Mars (Tom Sachs) Figure 06: Space Program Mars (Tom Sachs) Figure 07: Moon Walking Machine (Sputniko!) Figure 08: Moon Walking Machine, Video Installation(Sputniko!) Figure 09: Process of Experimental Futures (Via Stuart Candy) Figure 10: spaceXile logo Figure 11: A scene from spaceXile Advertisement Figure 12: spaceXile Brochure Figure 13: Three acts as played in final review. Figure 14: Final Review Poster Figure 15: Review Boards Figure 16: Act I Presentation Figure 17: Superadobe (Laura Kurtzberg) Figure 18: Superadobe Construction(Rug News) Figure 19: Superadobe Construction Process Figure 20: Superadobe Construction Details Figure 21: Superadobe Wall Section Figure 22: Habitation Unit Axonometric Drawibg Figure 23: Habitation Unit Plan and Section Figure 24: Habitation Unit Rendering Figure 25: Aeroponics Thermal Tower Figure 26: Seed Printing Machine Figure 27: Seed Printing Mechanism Figure 28: Greenhouse Axonometric Drawing Figure 29: Sponsored Research Figure 30: Camp Rendering (1) Figure 31: Camp Section Figure 32: Camp Plan Figure 33: Camp Rendering (3) Figure 34: Camp Rendering (3) Figure 35: Timeline of the Program Figure 36: Frame from “Discovery Channel Trailer“ Figure 37: Frames from “Waste Management System“ Figure 38: “Waste Management System“ Script Figure 39: Frames from “Gas Cleaning“ Figure 40: “Gas Cleaning“ Script Figure 41: Frames from “Human Exploration Unit“ Figure 42: “Human Exploration Unit“ Script Figure 43: “George Musk Speech“ Script Figure 44: George Musk Speaking for the Audience Figure 45: Early sketches of “A Martian Suicide“ Figure 46: “A Martian Suicide“ Script vi

2 2 5 6 8 8 10 11 13 14 14 15 17 17 18 19 20 20 21 21 21 22 22 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 29 29 29 29 30 31 31 32 32 33 33 36 37 38 39

ABSTRACT During 80 years from 1788 to 1868, about 164,000 convicts were exiled to Australia on board 806 prison ships. These men and women were often used as penal labor in penal colonies. Some of them never arrived in Australia; others suffered from hunger, thirst, and lack of any form of health security. Shipping prisoners to exile is an historical trend in forms of social punishment. From the beginning of the so-called “space age,” the promise of space investors was often better conditions for human life. The image of space exploration is adventurous and glorious and it even found its way into our cultural entertainments. The forerunners of space programs consider the human inhabitation of space as the only solution to prevent our species’ extinction. Although after the so-called space race, the propagation of this image has been reduced but outer space inhabitation has still its place in projected images of our future. Space exploration and social punishment, though seemingly unrelated, share an important property and that is their existence in our images of future. It may possibly bring them into a common ground. Thinking about fictional scenarios of punishment in the context of outer space inhabitation emerges serious issues and problems that should be projected and addressed not merely from a problem-solving point of view but from a provoking one. The main questions of this thesis are “How mechanisms of social punishment will look and work in the age of human space exploration?” and “What will be the interactions between these mechanisms and human life?“. This thesis does not seek to solve problems. Its goal is to craft and ask questions, provoke criticism, and finally catalyze dialogues about futures yet to come. It will use principles of experimental futures to form a critical fiction story and design the stuff that may be associated with this. It will finally mediate the stories using a narrative form and represent them through performance.

vii

INTRODUCTION During 80 years from 1788 to 1868, about 164,000 convicts were exiled to Australia on board 806 prison ships. These men and women were often used as penal labor in penal colonies. Some of them never arrived in Australia; others suffered from hunger, thirst, and lack of any form of health security.1 Shipping prisoners to exile is an historical trend in forms of social punishment. From the beginning of the so-called “space age,” the promise of space investors was often better conditions for human life. The image of space exploration is adventurous and glorious and it even found its way into our cultural entertainments. The forerunners of space programs consider the human inhabitation of space as the only solution to prevent our species’ extinction.2 Although after the so-called space race, the propagation of this image has been reduced but outer space inhabitation has still its place in projected images of our future. Space exploration and social punishment, though seemingly unrelated, share an important property and that is their existence in our images of future. It may possibly bring them into a common ground. Thinking about fictional scenarios of punishment in the context of outer space inhabitation emerges serious issues and problems that should be projected and addressed not merely from a problem-solving point of view but from a provoking one. The main questions of this thesis are “How mechanisms of social punishment will look and work in the age of human space exploration?” and “What will be the interactions between these mechanisms and human life?“. This thesis does not seek to solve problems. Its goal is to craft and ask questions, provoke criticism, and finally catalyze dialogues about futures yet to come. It will use principles of experimental futures to form a critical fiction story and design the stuff that may be associated with this. It will finally mediate the stories using a narrative form and represent them through performance.

This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW In this section I will first discuss briefly the observations of two current trends, first the issue of shipping prisoners as a form of social punishment and its historical precedents and second, the condition of human life in the environment of outer space. Finally, I will review critical design fictions and experimental futures as a tool to discuss and speculate the fictions.

TREND OBSERVATIONS Figure 01: HMS Success

Shipping the Convicts

Between 1788 and 1866 around 162,000 ships arrived in Australia. The ships carry approximately 164,000 prisoners to the British colonies. The convicts were used to work in penal colonies as prisoner labor. Free colonists did not arrive in Australia earlier than 1793.3 Shipping prisoners dates back to times before the emergence of prison as a building type. It extends back even before British colonization of Australia. The ships that were used to ship the convicts were second-hand, rearranged ships called hulk. Living conditions were miserable within these prison ships and this was often considered as one aspect of this form of punishment.4

Figure 02: Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center (Robert Almeida/ GCaptain)

A modern precedent of a prison ship is the Vernon C. Bain Correctional center. It is an 800-bed prison ship docked in Bronx N.Y. It was built for 161 million dollars and shipped to New York in 1992 in order to reduce overcrowding in the land-bound buildings and keep prisoners for a lower price.5 In 2014, this prison ship was named the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest prison ship in operation by the Guinness World Records.6 3

Conditions of Outer space Inhabitation

In the late 19 century, the term Space was added to the popular lexicon. The word Space (with a capital S) usually describes outer space and was firstly defined as an antonym to the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;airâ&#x20AC;? as the vital element that we inhale and exhale. This definition emphasizes the fatal environment of outer space. In astronomy outer space begins approximately at 250,000 feet where air does not support winged flight and reaching above this altitude requires rocket engines.7 During the so-called space race, space exploration was accelerating at a high speed. Both US government and the Soviet Union were increasing the funds of their space programs. The governmental funding of space explorations reduced in the late twentieth century. On the other hand higher safety standards slow down the pace of space explorations.8

Figure 03: Mars One Program (Mars One)

The obstacle in the way of human inhabitation of outer space is its fatal environment. There is a large number of extraterrestrial environmental properties and elements that are deadly for human: lack of oxygen, lack of air pressure, huge temperature oscillations, cosmic ray emissions, etc. In addition to these vital elements, issues of shortage of food and water, weightlessness, and psychological issues makes the execution of a space mission a serious design challenge.9 Reduction of state funds for space programs and retirement of US Space Shuttles motivated the rise of private space companies. The company Mars One launched a program to colonize mars with one-way trips. The program includes recruiting astronauts through online applications. The company is funded privately. This program includes a reality TV show to document the process of the missions as well as help funding the program.10

THE FUTURES Conventional thinking about time often offers a linear relation between past, present, and future. This model is often proposed as a series of events that are caused by their chronicle ancestors and affect their predecessors. The Past, present and future have no fixed time locus. The past is constantly recreated and reinterpreted in the future. There is a two-way relationship between past and future. Some events that predispose the future happened in the past while significance and importance of some other events in the past will be revealed in the future. Past and future are more plastic to changes and interpretations rather than the present moment.11 Thinking about the future usually aims to predict and determine the events of the future. The question in ordinary thinking about the future is usually “What will the future be or look like?” Future studies, on the other hand, seek to sketch multiple, alternate futures rather than predicting, forecasting, or giving clear and accurate images. Each of these “sketches” is called a scenario.12

NOW

Scenarios of the future can be categorized into three main categories: probable, possible, and preferable. Possible is often concerned with the question “What can happen?” In the same approach we can associate probable to “What will likely happen?” and preferable to “How can a specific target be reached?” When exploring possible future scenarios, scenarios appear in a possibility space instead of a narrow timeline. Every scenario can be imagined and explored as a point in this possibility space. The path of the future will be made through series of scenarios by “design” and “chance”. This model of mapping future scenarios is called a cone of possibility.13

Possible SCENARIO NOW

The main purpose of this mapping system is to categorize future stories and understand them from the point of view of the explorer rather than that of a predictor.

Probable

Figure 04: Cone of Possibility (Via Stuart Candy)

Preferable

CRITICAL, DESIGN FICTION

PRECEDENTS

Science fiction is a form of public entertainment. Products that are designed for science fiction don’t solve problems or answer questions. Science fiction products are often imaginary. The products that are designed for science fiction are categorized as “design fiction”. The objects of design fiction cannot maim the consumer or get any user feedback.14 Fiction storytelling is the type of storytelling that uses literal fictitious elements to narrate stories. It often suggests future scenario(s) to set a background for its stories. Design fiction as a new field of design is design with fiction storytelling as its story type. Its main roles include storytelling, provoking and raising questions. Its relationship with science fiction is so close that if science fiction is the literary part of a fiction, design fiction would be the material part.15

Space Program: Mars

Space Program: Mars by Tom Sachs is a performative mars landing mission. In this project, the artist made a series of props and sceneries including mars surface, a spaceship, and spacesuits. Using these designed objects, a group of performers mock the journey to mars in a gallery space. The project mainly criticizes NASA’s monopoly of space by doing a space program in a gallery.18

Figure 05: Space Program Mars (Tom Sachs)

Critical design is a form of design that crafts questions and asks them carefully. Critical design also makes its audience think. Current mainstream design is more concerned with creating optimal products. Critical design, on the other hand, is provocative and challenging. Critical design often offers speculations of the future. The purpose of these speculations and visions of future that are related to critical design is not to serve business, industry or market interests, but to criticize these social institutions.16 Speculating and experimenting about futures can change the way we view and confront problems of here and now. Work of critical, design fiction not only foresees the view of our collective future-self but also challenges the present issues and helps us understand the problems and issues of the present in new ways.17

Figure 06: Space Program Mars (Tom Sachs) 9

Moon Walking Machine

The project Moon Walking Machine is a work of critical design fiction by the artist Sputniko!. In her work, she tells the story of a young girl who designed a moon rover. The project includes the design and prototyping of a moon rover and then performs the process of design and tests the rover on mock-up scenery of moon. These two steps (prototyping and performing) are shown in a pop music video. The aim of this project is not to prototype and test an operational rover, but to ask questions about gender issues through stuff associating with the story.19

Figure 08: Moon Walking Machine, Video Installation (Sputniko!)

Figure 07: Moon Walking Machine (Sputniko!) 11

METHODOLOGY

SCENARIO

SITUATION

In this section, I will first propose the paradigm within which my thesis work is situated. I will then propose a main design strategy and finally, I will review a set of phases and delimitation for doing each section of the project. This thesis will use a design method and a process called experimental futures. In order to create an image of the future, we put ourselves in the viewpoint of the future and describe the image. Because of the uncertainty of the future, we accept the multiple images that can be described from one vantage point.21

STUFF

Life Style

The basic paradigm in future studies comprises of four methodological elements that create these multiple images of the futures. These four elements are Trends, Theory, Events, and Methods.22 Future studies speculate about events based on trends in order to project images of the future.

Objects/ Products

MAIN STRATEGY Speculating on issues of the future is possible through the process of “experimental futures”. In experimental futures, a fiction about a particular future will be set. From this story, multiple scenarios and multiple situations will emerge. Then designers will be able to speculate and project the “stuff” that are associated with these situations and scenarios. The work of experimental futures is about speculating, materializing, and performing the stuff of the futures. The “stuff” that are objects of study can include a variety of forms and media including objects, products, built environments, clothes, etc.23 This main strategy will allow the designer and the audience to explore stories of the future and experience their own imagination to fill the gaps that are caused by the ambiguity of the stories transpiring between multiple narratives. This ambiguity is embedded in the process of experimental futures and it may distract the audience from focuses and goals of the thesis. At the same time, it eases dialogue and critique.

STUFF Living Spaces

Psychological Issues

PROPS/ SCENERY Figure 09: Process of Experimental Futures (Via Stuart Candy)

PHASES

The scenario and the situation are being produced during the first phase. This phase is about generating options for the main scenario. In order to access the events of the future of the main story, stuff should be designed and represented. In this phase, I will design props and sceneries using the principles and practices of design fiction.

Phase One: Situating the main story

This phase is about conceptual scenario planning and building a possible future scenario of punishment in outer space. The main story comes into existence through a process called scenario planning. Scenario planning is a technique of exploring the future. It uses speculation in order to explore and experiment with possible future scenarios. A work of scenario planning consists of multiple steps including (1) Scoping, (2) Trend Analysis, (3) Building Scenarios, (4) Generating Options, (5) Testing Options, and (6) Creating an action Plan.24 The two last steps will not be included in this project since this project is not about to test or propose a model but to critic and provoke.

Phase Two: Stuff Design; Design the Fiction

Design fiction uses the term prop to describe the outcomes of the designed stuff.26 Prop is a term from theater and is used for any object that is used during the course of performing a play. Another theatrical term, scenery can be used in order to describe the stuff that forms the spatiality of a play. In order to design sceneries, regular work of architecture should take place.

Figure 10: spaceXile logo

In the first step, I scoped the scenario at the intersection of social punishment and outer space exploration. The question in this step was â&#x20AC;&#x153;How will social punishment and outer space be related in the near future?â&#x20AC;? The next step was analyzing the trends of current social punishments and outer space exploration. The third step was building the main scenario based on the first two steps. The main story of spaceXile is based on the goal of this thesis (which is exploring futures of punishment in the context of outer space inhabitation), and observation of present trends. spaceXile is a fictional corporate name, established by two corporations, GEO Group and SpaceX in, a post-capital punishment future. The main objective of this company is to send former death-row inmates to outer space missions in order to keep them separate from society as well as providing free labor for exploration and experiments on human inhabitation in outer space. The prisoners deployed by the company are called astro-prisoners. The story was elaborated through corporate identity design and advertisement for the company and their outer space inhabitation program. At this level more detail was added to the story in order to (1) create situations based on which more work of design can happen in phase II and (2) make the story more plausible and provoking for the audience.

Figure 11: A scene from spaceXile Advertisement

Figure 12: spaceXile Brochure

Because of the time and resource limitations of the project, I decided to focus on the design of the scenery and use the design material as a prop. The initial idea was using the imaginary power of architectural design to give information about the future while using drawings, models, and renderings to play a fictional architecture review.

Phase Three: Perform the Stories

In this phase I will tell the stories of spaceXile from three different perspectives, using props and scenery that are designed in phase II.

I: SPONSORED RESEARCH

III: COLONIZATION

Figure 13: Three acts as played in final review.

THEMES/ACTS

The elements that are designed in Phase II are performative artifacts that can narrate stories about possible futures. The performative aspects of prototypes are evident in design fiction prototypes because a narrative structure contextualizes stuff within the social, human sphere. Narratives in popular culture require props to move their stories forward.27 Moreover, a scenario without being performed makes distant and abstract prospects more immediate and tangible instead of focusing on the role of narrative in the construction of an artifact.28 In the first step, I indicated three actors, from the perspective of whom these stories will be told. These three actors are the prisoner, the designer, and the authority. For each of these actors a video-performance will be designed and played as the final outcome of this thesis.

II: REALITY TELEVISION

In order to manage and organize the reference frames that are coming from different perspectives, I divided the performance into three different acts. In the next chapter, these three acts are ordered in the same order that they were presented during the final performance of the project. This is not necessarily the chronological order of events that are being portrayed.

Figure 14: Final Review Poster

The first act is called Sponsored Research. This act shows a set of events from the perspective of the designer. The idea is that the company spaceXile and its partners are sponsoring a study and work of architecture design for their yet to launch spaceXile MARS program. In this act work of architecture including drawings, models, diagrams and renderings were used as props and the sponsored student represents his work for a committee including the sponsorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s representatives. The second act is called Colonization. In this act, I focus on the perspective of authority. This act includes a short talk by the imaginary company CEO, George Musk, with company investors in which he defends the feasibility and morality of the company objectives and announces the date for the first mars mission launch. This act questions the morality of outer space imprisonment. The final act is called Reality Television and it focuses on conditions and issues of astro-prisoners. In this act, I use scenery and situations designed in the first act to perform scenes of an imaginary reality television show that portrays the life of astro-prisoners on mars. 17

spaceXile MARS

spaceXile MARS spaceXile MARS Free Settling Units

Site Selection

THESIS OUTCOME: spaceXile

Free Settlers will be able to combine units in order to achieve their desired formation.

ACT I: SPONSORED RESEARCH 10µm

spaceXile RV-120

The fiction of this act lies in the existence of the company spaceXile. Through claiming an imaginary sponsored research project produced for the company by a graduate student, the act involves the audience in a work of architecture that highlights the imaginary conditions of astro-prisoners on mars. Each section of the design work shows a form of punishment and control while internally justifying it through issues like technical difficulties or cost efficiency.

10cm

Dust

Martian Soil

Rock

This Diagram Showing the quality of Martian Soil. The spectrum is what RV-120 Will look for in the Area.

Larger Module (DM-07)

The area that RV-120 will scout as a process to chose a landing destination for the first mission.

100km

spaceXile MARS

Alternative Formations (Free Only)

Adhesive Material

rado

spaceXile MARS spaceXile MARS Camp Formation

Martian Soil and Sand

Super-adobe

spaceXile™ MARS Pouyan Bizeh

Multiple unit formation possibility

~7” VELCRO ®

Cell

8”

Cell

While this act is being played, some boards are pinned on a wall to give the sense of a real architectural review session. This act ultimately helped to lend a sense of plausibility to the whole project since the design artifacts try to address believable problems that may emerge from such a program on Mars.

Velcro-Adobe System

Sand Bags

Main Stream

Martian Soil

Dust Isolation Material Sheets

Waste Control

Supply

Greenhouse

Filled-in Soil

Isolation Material Sheets

spaceXile™ MARS Pouyan Bizeh

Tamped Soil

Construction Detail Section

spaceXile MARS spaceXile MARS Construction Process

Site Plan and Possible Formation

spaceXile MARS Camp Formation

Ground should be dug to resist lateral sheer.

In order to design for a situation on mars one should first understand the differences between physical properties of Mars and that of earth. Whereas days (called sols on Mars) almost as long, the gravity acceleration in almost a third of that of earth and winds are noticeably heavier.29

Removing the soil 3’ deep.

Digging and Tamping will take approximately a month.

Erecting the main structure will take up to 5 months.

spaceXile™ MARS Pouyan Bizeh

Fill soil back.

spaceXile MARS spaceXile MARS Program Time-line

Camp Schematic Plan

spaceXile MARS Camp Formation

PV Panels

TEAM 3

TEAM 1

TEAM 2

Greenhouse

Main Stream

Airlock

Cell

Free Settlers

Cell

THIRD MISSION

SECOND MISSION

HABITAT UNITS

FLIGHT DURATION

{

Section A

Cell

Main Stream

Supply Room

Airlock

PV Panels

Astro-Prisoners TEAM 1- Astroprisoners

Section B

Free Settlers

spaceXile MARS spaceXile MARS Cell Design

spaceXile MARS spaceXile MARS Aeroponics System

Glass Protector Rock-wool holes

Superadobe Dome Hygiene and Waste Control

Inflatable Shell

Sleeping Area Work Desk Supply Storage Food Preparation Air Lock Module

Seed Generator Machine (GSSG-08)

Thermal Tower (TW-233)

Base Structure

Figure 16: Act I Presentation Crops growing in the thermal tower

Cell Interior

Figure 15: Review Boards

Velcro-adobe

Construction Process

Superadobe (sandbag and barbed wire) technology, is a building method suggested by Nader Khalili. It consists of a continuous sandbag filled with soil. It also uses barbed wire in between the layers in order to prevent their sliding. The system is considered a masonry wall system. It has been proposed to use the same method to build structures on Mars. Since In this proposal Velcro layers were designed instead of barbed wire. it is called Velcro-adobe.30 The use of this method of construction is justifiable for three primary reasons. First, less material would need to be carried to Mars since a mile of sandbags weighs almost 150 pounds.31 The second reason is its labor-intensive nature. While the story includes sending free labor to Mars, this is a reasonable decision to cut on manufacturing costs on earth. The final reason lies in the legal ownership in outer space. While no individual or corporate body can claim land ownership on any extraterrestrial body,32 based on the “Space Competitiveness Act of 2015” US corporations can own materials that they are collecting in outer space. This will allow the company spaceXile to own the structures they establish on mars since the procedure includes collecting and gathering of soil.33

This step includes the proposing of the process of building Velcro-adobe structures on mars. The steps include: digging the ground, placing airlocks and an Isolation bag, erecting the structure, and inflating the bag.

Martian Soil and Sand Adhesive Material

Figure 17: Superadobe (Laura Kurtzberg)

rad

a eS

~7” VELCRO ®

Figure 19: Superadobe Construction Process

8”

Figure 20: Superadobe Construction Details Sand Bags Martian Soil

Form Finding

Since Velcro-adobe is a masonry building method, dome and vault shaped forms will suit its structural purposes the best. Domes can be formed by revolving a catenary curve along its vertical axis. The lower the catenary curve is, the more lateral thrust it produces. On the other hand higher domes produced by higher catenary curves can resist more vertical force (e.g. gravity). Since gravity and wind speed are different on mars than on earth, the dome-shaped structures should be lower than ones on earth. Based on this fact the dome structures are designed by revolving lower catenary curves with sand bags revolving along contour lines on the surface.

Dust Isolation Material Sheets

Filled-in Soil

Figure 18: Superadobe Construction (Rug News)

Isolation Material Sheets

Figure 21: Superadobe Wall Section

Tamped Soil

Superadobe Dome Hygiene and Waste Control Sleeping Area Work Desk Supply Storage Food Preparation Air Lock Module

Figure 24: Habitation Unit Rendering Figure 22: Habitation Unit Axonometric Drawing

Figure 23: Habitation Unit Plan and Section

Solitary Cells

Astro-prisoners will individually inhabit living units. These units are called “inhabitation units” or in informal language, “solitary cells”. The initial decision is to keep the astro-prisoners separate from one another to prevent highrisk interactions. The inhabitation unit offers some basic services to astro-prisoners including a sleeping area, a work desk, a food preparation and a hygiene and waste control booth. The idea of a hygiene mechanism comes from an unknown chemical emulsion that wipes away fat (and therefore contamination) from skin, although it’s dangerous to the central nervous system and its respiration should be restricted. In order to restrict the gas to enter central nervous system, astro-prisoners should deploy face masks. The same area will be used for waste control. The system will collect human excrement and turn it into fertilizer by dehydrating the material. The water produced in the process will be retained and recycled in the system.

Food and Agriculture

Greenhouse and Aeroponics System

the company control over the food chain. As an example, spaceXile can cut off food for any particular prisoner or camp in case of disobedience.

Aeroponics is a technique of growing crops in an environment of mist without using soil. In this system plant sprouts will be placed in thermal towers that control the humidity and temperature of the plant roots. In aeroponics, water is being used to deliver nutrients and fertilizers to the plants. The system is also being proposed for agriculture in outer space zero gravity situations.34

AA TC GC TG AC TG T

TTACAGTACATA GGAT ACG CAT GA TG G CA TA TT CA GA SEED PRINTING MACHINE TA A G CA GT G T AC G C TA

The advantage of this system is its reduction in the use of water and therefore the total shipment weight. It also allows plant roots to absorb more water in lower gravities in comparison to aquaponics. In spaceXile Mars camps, an inflatable greenhouse structure is designed to house thermal towers. Translucent Teflon material will allow the maximum use of sunlight and reduces the need for artificial lighting. The inflatable structure will cover a lightweight, inner structure and then it will be pressurized to create a controlled environment for crops. The astro-prisoners will directly be in charge of receiving seeds from mission control on earth, print the seeds and grow the crops. Greenhouses should also be accessible for the crew when needed and restricted on other times.

Figure 27: Seed Printing Mechanism

Figure 25: Aeroponics Thermal Tower

Seed printing System

In order to maintain control over the food chain in the camps, a seed printing mechanism is deployed. The crops that are planning to be grown in the aeroponics thermal towers would be scanned on earth for their genetic material. This may include any mutated or genetically modified crops as well. Then the encrypted genetic code will be sent to the camps on Mars where a seed printing machine prints the seed into a rock wool block. The block will be carried to the thermal tower where it starts its growth period. There are a few advantages for this system. First of all, it reduces the cost of shipping to mars. It also allows the company or a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research partner to do nutrition research on astro-prisoners in real time. Moreover, it gives

Figure 26: Seed Printing Machine

Figure 28: Greenhouse Axonometric Drawing 25

Camps After designing the elements of a Martian camp for astro-prisoners, connection spaces are needed in order to maintain access to different modules by the crew. For this purpose, a central corridor is proposed with connection to all the modules and units. This mainstream will not only give access to astro-prisoners but will also open the camp for further possible expansion. Some of these expansions may be occupied by further free settlers that decided to live on mars. Prior to the construction of habitation units, astro-prisoners will construct the central corridor using Velcro-adobe and place the airlock modules where needed. Then they will build the solitary cells as well as a supply room and the greenhouse.

Figure 29: Sponsored Research

In order to control the astro-prisoners and apply tasks, oxygen control mechanisms will be deployed. Any controlled environment can be remotely locked and pressurized by ground control. This means that the company can force astro-prisoners to be in a certain environment at a certain time. Since these controlled environments also include space suits and helmets, the company can enforce the tasks that occur outside the camp area.

Figure 30: Camp Rendering (1)

Figure 31: Camp Section

Figure 34: Camp Rendering (3)

Figure 32: Camp Plan

TEAM 3

THIRD MISSION

Free Settlers

SECOND MISSION

HABITAT UNITS

FLIGHT DURATION

THIRD MISSION

TEAM 2

{

TEAM 1

Free Settlers

Astro-Prisoners TEAM 1- Astroprisoners

Free Settlers

Figure 35: Timeline of the Program

Figure 33: Camp Rendering (3)

ACT II: REALITY TELEVISION

As a part of its revenue, spaceXile will air a reality television show of astro-prisoner’s life partnering Discovery Channel. A mock Discovery channel series trailer was created to increase the plausibility of the scenes. It suggests the sponsorship of the media corporation to produce the reality television show and air it.

In this short clip, I showed the hygiene and waste management system scenery and its operation through a scenario. The camera is placed behind the monitor to show that the whole video is being watched from the perspective of authority. This top-down positioning also implies the top-down hierarchy of authority, guard (screen in this case), and astro-prisoner. The clip also suggests a very small area for the waste booth and the difficulties of using it.

In this section, I speculated upon the images and events of this television show. In this process, some of the spaces and events were chosen to portray the life of astro-prisoners. In each section, astro-prisoners encounter the situations that are projected during the design phase. In order to make these speculative videos, I reproduce the sceneries and then act through each section. The description of events and dialogues in the videos was then written in the form of script. These short clips focus on the relationship between astro-prisoners and guards, whether they are in the form of a computer or an artificial intelligent agent called “Daisy”. They show the practice of control over the astro-prisoners to highlight the issue of incarceration in outer space.

Waste Management System

During urination, the screen shows the company’s advertisement that suggests the propaganda of a company trying to portray itself morally and functionally correct. In the end of the procedure, the computer proposes a diet that will be enforced on the astro-prisoner for the next twenty-four hours. It suggests the idea of a nutrition research that is collecting data from astro-prisoner’s daily life.

Figure 36: Frame from “Discovery Channel Trailer“

Figure 37: Frames from “Waste Management System“

Figure 38: “Waste Management System“ Script

FADE IN INT. TOILETE BOOTH ASTROPRISONER M134 enters the booth. He rotates and looks at the screen above his head. Screen blinks “Tap to Start!” He touches the screen. A list of astro-prisoners appear. He chooses his name. Screen shows loading. Screen shows “Pick up the funnel”. He picks up the funnel. Screen shows options “1” and “2”. He taps on “1”. He puts the funnel on himself and start urinating. Screen plays an advertisement. He finishes urinating and taps on the screen. Screen shows loading. Screen shows “Thank you!” He puts the funnel back. Screen shows his diet information. He taps on screen. Screen blinks “Tap to Start!” he exits the booth gently. FADE TO: FADE IN INT. HYGIENE BOOTH

Gas Cleaning

FADE IN

This short clip shows the process of cleaning by spraying gas on the astro-prisoner’s bodies’. The Video shows a new perspective of the hygiene and waste booth. This clip focuses on showing the events of cleaning and the fear and stress it may cause. The astro-prisoner wears his mask and tries to test and double check its functionality at the same time.

In this Short clip, I tried to show the relations beINT. TOILETE BOOTH tween penal labor and authority. The astro-prisoner in this videobooth. functionsHe as a mechanical unit.at Thisthe shows the ASTROPRISONER M134 enters the rotates andprobe looks cruelty that may rise from recruiting aHe free or cheap labor screen above his head. Screen blinks “Tap to Start!” touches force. It also shows the control through which the screen. A list of astro-prisoners appear. He mechanism chooses his theScreen authorityshows can apply tasksup to astro-prisoners from a name. Screen shows loading. “Pick the funnel”. He picks up the funnel. Screen groundshows controloptions center on “1” earth.and “2”. He

taps on “1”. He puts the funnel on himself and start urinating. Screen plays an advertisement. He urinating taps on of The finishes camera placement showsand the perspective the screen. Screen shows loading. Screenand shows “Thank you!” Hein (often the astro-prisoner it engages the audience puts the funnel back. Screen shows his diet information. He taps painful) experiments that he is going through. By showing on screen. Screen blinks “Tap to Start!” he exits the booth the supply percentages in the corner of the image, the clip gently.

It also proposes being watched as a way of control since astro-prisoners cannot carry any forbidden items while they are being watched naked. It questions the issue of privacy as a basic right that is being violated through this process. By using noises and sound effects, the short video makes FADE IN a reference to the lethal gas chamber execution method and by making it a daily routine, it proposes INT. TOILETE BOOTH a new form of punishment.

suggests the mechanism of oxygen control and how it may FADE TO: be applied.

ASTROPRISONER M134 enters the booth. He rotates and looks at the screen above his head. Screen blinks “Tap to Start!” He touches the screen. A list of astro-prisoners appear. He chooses his name. Screen shows loading. Screen shows “Pick up the funnel”. He picks up the funnel. Screen shows options “1” and “2”. He Figure 39: taps on “1”. He puts the funnel on himself and start Framesurinating. from “Gas Cleaning“ Screen plays an advertisement. He finishes urinating and taps on the screen. Screen shows loading. Screen shows “Thank you!” He puts the funnel back. Screen shows his diet information. He taps on screen. Screen blinks “Tap to Start!” he exits the booth Figure 40: gently. “Gas Cleaning“ Script

FADE TO:

INT. HYGIENE BOOTH ASTROPRISONER M112 enters the booth and turns. He picks up a gas mask and wears it. He adjusts and tightens the mask. The glass door of the booth shuts and turns to a screen. Screen shows “Tap to Start”. Screen asks if he wants to begin cleaning cycle. He taps on “YES”. He closes his eyes and breath deep. Gas emits in the booth. FADE TO:

EXT. MARS SURFACE – DAY

In the end of the clip, we can see a duality for the company authority. While they want to keep the processes as efficient as possible by insisting on continuing the misINT. HYGIENE BOOTH sion, they will also help their labor force survive a deadly ASTROPRISONER M112 enters the booth and turns. He picks up a gas situation. In this case, one can observe the instrumentalizaFiguremask 41: and wears it. He adjusts and tightens the mask. The glass tion of the human body. door Frames fromof the booth shuts and turns to a screen. Screen shows “Tap to Exploration Start”. Screen asks if he wants to begin cleaning cycle. He “Human Unit“ taps on “YES”. He closes his eyes and breath deep. Gas emits inFigure 42: the booth. “Human Exploration Unit“ Script

FADE IN

FADE TO: FADE IN: EXT. MARS SURFACE – DAY ASTROPRISONER M186 is walking on Mars with his helmet on. His AI guard, DAISY is assisting him. (Camera POV, inside the helmet)

FADE IN

FADE IN:

Human Exploration Unit

DAISY (V.O.) I guess you arrived to the position. ASTROPRISONER (O.S.) Yeah, I think so.

DAISY We need to collect rocks with high calcium content. ASTROPRISONER So what do you want me to do? DAISY I want you to show me pieces of rocks in this area. And we are behind today’s schedule. We should move faster. ASTROPRISONER Yes, I think my O2 level isHe coughs. DAISY

DAISY This one looks appropriate. He puts the rock sample. He is deep breathing. The oxygen is running out. DAISY You should stop deep breathing. ASTROPRISONER I really can’t. Can we abort the mission now? DAISY No! He coughs so hard. He falls on his knees. He falls on the ground with his helmet.

But we have just enough supply to finish this mission. ASTROPRISONER

DAISY Daisy to mission control! Mission Control do you read? MISSION CONTROL

So you don’t want to abort the mission. Do you? DAISY

Affirmative! DAISY

Not at all! ASTROPRISONER

We have a situation in 425267.

OK!

FADE TO:

He looks around for appropriate rocks. He picks a rock up and show it to his helmet. DAISY This rock contains %60 iron. Isn’t it obvious? He puts the rock back on the ground. DAISY Look, I really want you to concentrate. He moves towards a new rock and picks it up. He is deep breathing. ASTROPRISONER What about this one?

INT. CONFERENCE AUDITORIUM conference auditorium GEORGE Musk approaches the scene. GEORGE Hello! Hello everyone! Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you so much! I’m not gonna ruin the night for anyone. It’ll be a very short talk and a tiny surprise. So… the whole spaceXile project began with a very foundamental question. The question was “Do we really want our children to live in a society with all these criminals and felons going around?” I’m pretty sure our answers are all NO. What makes spaceXile so different is our approach to this “no”.

ACT III: COLONIZATION He points to the monitor behind him to begin his slides.

In this act, I speculate the colonial issues that will emerge from Mars colonization by spaceXile. This act includes two minor events. In the first event, the imaginary CEO of the company spaceXile gives a short speech, justifying the morality and economic efficiency of the program. In the second part, we jump forward in time to speculate upon the last hours of an astro-prisoner’s life.

This is the number of actual incarcerated Americans. Two million, two hundred twenty thousand and three hundred Americans, individual Americans are now in prison. It’s a huge number. Don’t get me wrong! I don’t care for these people. I do care about the amount of money we’re spending on them. This is the money that American tax payers are spending for imprisonment per year. That is the actual NASA annual budget for this year. So you can see. That’s why. With the decrees of the annual budget of NASA year after year you will see private companies that by the way we are partnering with are coming to play. And, they’re doing really good things. But they’re not that powerful. From 2002 to 2012 they raise only a billion dollar. And if you’re in space industry, you know this doesn’t count that much. But they did so much with the money they had. So we thought why can’t we bring more stakes to this industry? What can we do with more money? With our goal being mars, this is the money that we need. And this is the money that we raised so far. We are not going to fill this gap. Why? Because we know that we have promised funds that if we doing well, that by the way we are, we can get our hands on. Based on the numbers that you saw we set our goal to send our astro-prisoners to mars on… 2032.

spaceXile Corporations

This act begins with an announcement of a conference in which imaginary company CEO George Musk is delivering a short speech. In his speech, he begins to justify the morality of company’s actions. In the second part, he discusses the feasibility of the company plans. This talk shows the propaganda deployed by the company as well as their financial abilities. While it is a fictional speech wrapped in a commercial speech narrative, the character goes through real numbers and social challenges like high incarceration rates and low governmental budget for space explorations. The speech puts the audience in the place of imaginary investors of the company. Through this process, the project asks a personal question from the audience: “to what extent they can see themselves being involved in the story?”

Figure 43: “George Musk Speech“ Script

Audience applauds. So with that saying, I’ll leave you. Enjoy the night! Good evening everyone!

INT. CONFERENCE AUDITORIUM conference auditorium

CUT TO:

GEORGE Musk approaches the scene. GEORGE Hello! Hello everyone! Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you so much! I’m not gonna ruin the night for anyone. It’ll be a very short talk and a tiny surprise. So… the whole spaceXile project began with a very foundamental question. The question was “Do we really want our children to live in a society with all these criminals and felons going around?” I’m pretty sure our answers are all NO. What makes spaceXile so different is our approach to this “no”. Our approach was different and our approach is problem solving. Let’s take a look at some numbers. He points to the monitor behind him to begin his slides.

George Musk Speaking to the Audience

A Martian Suicide

Right after the end of the speech a recorded voice is heard. In this recorded voice the astro-prisoner “Danny Sitzer” talks to the audience. In order to increase empathy with the character, he has been given a name. His language also represents a less educated personality.

Audience applaud. So with that saying, I’ll leave you. Enjoy the night! Good evening everyone! Figure 46:

Through his message, Sitzer talks about the difficulty of life in a camp on Mars and the fact that the company’s control over events is more than what we previously assume. He then adds that he finds a way to take off his helmet while he is outside for a task and he plans to do it. In the recorded voice it is not clear how his managed to do so. The recorded voice suggest the suicide as the final means of liberation. With the placement of this part right after the previous part, the audience can relate the decisions that were made during the first part and their implications for individual’s life situations. It also highlights the cruelty of control mechanisms in contrast to what has been presented so far with a neutral language.

“A Martian Suicide“ CUT TO: Script

INT. HABITATION UNIT DANNY Sitzer picks up his recorder and press record. DANNY My name is Danny Sitzer and I have a Message for you. Don’t actually think this company will ever let anyone know exactly what the hell is going on up here and I’m sure [...] they won’t let you hear this tape either. But I don’t give a f***! Our situation here is awful. We have no voice! They’re controlling whatever you see on TV or hear in the news. And it’s all bul***! They once cut off camp three on seeds and they were starving for ten f*** sols. Can you believe that?! You can never believe what’s happening here. You have no idea. They won’t even let us kill ourselves. There’s nothing we can do. We should go out every day collecting rock samples, Working on those goddamn greenhouses, or building modules for those f*** free a***. You know what? I don’t give a f*** anymore! Today I’m gonna finish this sh*** for all of us. Hacked into my helmet, Turns out I can get it off Next time I get outta that f*** airlock, I’m gonna blow it up. They would never have expected that. Hope you’re all OK with watching a man die a slow death, trying to get a final breath of fresh air! See you all tomorrow on TV guys. FADE OUT. CREDITS. END. Figure 45: Early sketches of “A Martian Suicide“

CONCLUSION In this thesis, I attempted to speculate and project the conditions and events of imprisonment in outer space using methods of experimental futures. I then designed spaces and artifacts associated with these conditions and events . Finally, I performed, through the designed material, the scenarios I have foreseen in the story.

In the end, deploying the methods of experimental futures as well as performing the acts involved the audience/ critics in questioning social relations of control and punishment in emerging new technologies and technical achievements. This serves the main goal of this thesis which was igniting dialogue and social critique.

This project is an exploration in different media of speculative futures. These media include architectural design, short videos and performance. The final review of the project consisted of three acts corresponding to the main themes of the story. In a sense, the actualization of these themes did not happen until the final performance of the project. One of the most important achievements of this thesis is the suggestion of a new definition of the term prop. While prop is usually associated with with artifacts used in a performative piece, this thesis used architectural design materials such as drawings, renderings, and models as props in order to narrate the story from the perspective of the designer. The idea of separate acts with cuts in between enabled the project to narrate a more inclusive story of events and situations of the future spaceXile program. During these acts not only the role and character of the performer changed, but also the audience was involved in different roles: critics, sponsors, investors and television viewers. This helps the audience to perceive different bits of information about the same events from multiple perspectives. The presentation of the thesis ends in an ambiguity since so many of events and situations did not meet their ultimate destinies. On the other hand, not all of the features of the spaceXile program are revealed. It seems as if spaceXile (as a story) was explored through design and performance from the perspective of a narrator and then was reformatted to present to the audience of the thesis. In this procedure, many unrevealed spots appear in the story that opens the thesis for further speculations and presentations. 41

NOTES

18 Tom Sachs, Space Program: Mars, Performance art, 2007.

1 “Convicts and the British colonies in Australia,” Australian Government, accessed December 15, 2015, http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/convicts-and-the-british-colonies.

19 Hiromi Ozaki, The Moonwalk Machine, Installation with video, 2013, http://sputniko.com/2013/10/themoo walk-machine-selenas-step.

2 Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (Ballantine books, 2011).

20 James A. Dator, Advancing Futures: Futures Studies in Higher Education (Praeger, 2002).

3 “Convicts and the British colonies in Australia,” Australian Government, accessed December 15, 2015, http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/convicts-and-the-british-colonies.

21 Kees van der Heijden, Scenarios: The Art of Strategic Conversation (John Wiley & Sons, 2015), 153.

4 Jacob Reidel, “Shipping Out”, Clog, Prisons, 2014, 17. 5 Selwyn Raab, “Bronx Jail Barge to Open, Though the Cost Is Steep”, The New York Times, January 27, 1992.

22 Stuart Candy, “The futures of everyday life: politics and the design of experimental scenarios” (PhD diss., University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 2010), 30. 23 Stuart Candy, “Shipping Presents and Futures,” Young Candy, University at Buffalo, School of Architecture and Planning, September 30, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ROCpqr9_7s&feature=youtu.be.

6 Guinness World Records 2014 (Vancouver, British Columbia: Jim Pattison Group, 2013). 24 Meinert, Sacha, Field manual - Scenario building (Brussels: Etui, 2014). 7 Nicholas de Monchaux, Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo (MIT Press, 2011), 13-27. 8 Asif A. Siddiqi “Competing technologies, National (ist) narratives, and universal claims: Toward a global history of space exploration.” Technology and Culture 51, no. 2 (2010): 425-443. 9 Lawrence D. Ely, Space Science for the Layman (Charles C Thomas, 1967), 99-120. 10 “About Mars One,” Mars One, accessed December 15, 2015, http://www.mars-one.com/about-marsone.

25 Bleecker, Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction (2009), http://drbfw5wfjlxon.cloudfront.net/writing/DesignFiction_WebEdition.pdf. 26 Bleecker, Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction (2009), http://drbfw5wfjlxon.cloudfront.net/writing/DesignFiction_WebEdition.pdf. 27 David Kirby, “The Future is Now: Diegetic Prototypes and the Role of Popular Films in Generating Realworld Technological Development,” Social Studies of Science, February 2010, 41-70.

11 John McHale, The Future of the Future (New York: George Brasiller, 1969), 19-38. 12 Stuart Candy, “The futures of everyday life: politics and the design of experimental scenarios” (PhD diss., University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 2010), 29-67.

28 Stuart Candy, “The futures of everyday life: politics and the design of experimental scenarios” (PhD diss., University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 2010), 105.

13 Ibid.

29 Strasdeit, H. E. N. R. Y. “Chemical evolution and early earth’s and mars’ environmental conditions.” Palaeodivers 3 (2010): 107-116.

14 Bruce Sterling, “The State of the World,” Closing keynote presentation at South by Southwest Interactive, Austin, TX, 2006, http://ocaption.blogspot.com/2006/03/brucesterlings-state-of-worldaddress_22.html.

30 “What is Superadobe?,” CalEarth, accessed April 25, 2015, https://calearth.org/building-designs/ what-is-superadobe.html.

15 Julian Bleecker, Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction (2009), http://drbfw5wfjl on.cloudfront.net/writing/DesignFiction_WebEdition.pdf. 16 Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Design Noir: The secret life of electronic objects (August/Birkhauser, 2001), 45-58.

31 Ibid 32 Public Law 114-90-NOV. 25,2015, “U.S. Commercial Space Competitiveness Act,” https://www.congress. gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1297 (accessed February 25, 2016).

16 Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Design Noir: The secret life of electronic objects (August/Birkhauser, 2001), 45-58.

33 Christol, Carl Quimby. The modern international law of outer space. New York: Pergamon Press, 1982.

17 Stuart Candy, “The futures of everyday life: politics and the design of experimental scenarios” (PhD diss., University of Hawai’i at Manoa, 2010), 173-187.

34 Stoner, R. J., and J. M. Clawson. “A high performance, gravity insensitive, enclosed aeroponic system for food production in space.” Principal Investigator, NASA SBIR NAS10-98030 (1998).