ADJUST OR INVENT? EXPLORING LUNAR ARCHITECTURE SUSAN BUTUK
PROPOSAL
Typical construction on the Moon cannot be achieved, as cranes and steel beams have payload weights that render them impossible to be shipped to the Moon. The basic necessities for human life — air and water — could be derived from the lunar soil. Building materials, rocket fuel and other necessities could also be manufactured. These materials could be used by the astronauts on the moon or by a fabrication system. Several small robots equipped with a wide variety of tools will be sent to the Moon to allocate resources and fabricate and place modules that will construct the lunar settlement. The robots have the ability to collect the materials from the Moon’s surface, separate them according to their properties, and then internally 3D-print the modules to exact specifications. The robots will then transport the digitally fabricated module and place it in its specific location based on a set of digital parametric plans. Issues of embedded computational control structures, communication and kinetic engineering are therefore paramount.
SOLAR CONNECTION
“WE ARE ALL LIKE THE BRIGHT MOON, WE STILL HAVE OUR DARKER SIDE.” - KAHLIL GIBRAN
THE VERTICAL GESTURE FOR THE CITY USES THE STUDY OF FRAGMENTS.
The proposal imagines the development of a large scale tower in the crater of the moon: an infrastructural seed that contains everything that is needed to propagate a permanent lunar settlement.
TOWER DEVELOPMENT
The Tower’s imposing height makes it useful for player navigation from other places within the Moonbase complex.
TOWER PLAN
Technology and Communication
Vegitation
Textiles
Materials
By condensing the built-in environment and pushing it underground, a vast open space is produced.
live / work
live / work
general storage water supply
general storage water supply
PROJECT TIMELINE 1970
1980
world oil crisis and recession apollo program (1969-1971)
1990
2000
NASA space shuttle program (1981-2011) international space station (1998-2020)
The challenge of creating a city on the moon is that it cannot exist independently but rather it must co-exist with other programs already in place that can initiate and sustain inhabitation. The proposed settlement would likely be cooperation between government, scientific and commercial enterprises.
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
first multi-nation lunar base established in polar-region of the moon (solar powered) first manned Mars mission begins major world economic collapse; subsequent radical shift in world financial and political and political structures, global priorities world space alliance formed; joint venture between advanced nations and private enterprises space x first private firm to successfully complete orbital flight virgin galactic launches spaceport, beginning of commercial space flight
LUNAR ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH
1969
1981-2011
advances in echnology enables large-scae sustained fusion reactions using Helium - 3, an element more readily avaible on the moon
FIRST SELF-SUFFICIENT LUNAR COLONY
2020
2040