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Space architecture is already a bona fide specialty within THE PROFESSION. its lessons will infiltrate the mainstream, changing the way we DESIGN, build, AND … THINK

By Sara Hart

Professor Larry Bell, director of SICSA, describes the center’s mission as twofold. The lessons from the classroom concentrate on Earth challenges: energy conservation, materials science, construction systems, and human performance in extreme environments. Upper-level undergraduates pursue Earth-based projects that pose special technical and environmental challenges and emphasize practical, yet innovative, solutions. Graduate students can specialize in space architecture within the master of architecture program. SICSA maintains a Closed Environment Laboratory, the size of a habitable space station. Students study relationships between physical design features and the abilities of inhabitants to adapt and perform on Antarctic bases, offshore and underwater habitats, and housing for people displaced by natural or man-made disasters.

The second initiative is commercial. SICSA is providing master planning and design support to support the Texas Aerospace Commission to promote the development of a commercial spaceport in Texas. The theory is that advances in propulsion systems and reusable launch vehicles will reduce the costs of space exploration. Conceptualization of a broad, integrated infrastructure of facilities is under way.

One need not live in the shadow of NASA to study space architecture. In 1998, two programs in space architecture were created at the Institute for Architecture and Product Development at the University of Technology Munich. The first, led by British architect Richard Horden, studied the microgravity (weightlessness) environment by making proposals for the ISS Habitation Module, which ended in building and testing prototypes for microgravity furniture. The other studied a surface habitat for the NASA Mars Reference Mission. Professor Andreas Vogler described these programs as the initial step toward developing a curriculum for space architecture within the standard architecture curriculum. “Modern architecture and product development mean problem solving not only in complex technical systems but also in complex working environments,” explains Vogler. “Dealing with complex systems on both the technical and logistic side is inherent to the profession.”

In short, “The Munich Model,” as described by Vogler, concentrates on systems thinking to produce technical feasibility and achieves this through a “learning by doing” approach, which, in turn, requires access to resources outside the university, from government agencies and private industry.

The goal of the ISS Habitation Module was “to design technically viable proposals for all living functions on the ISS,” explains Vogler. Through videoconferencing with NASA, students learned about how astronauts move in microgravity and handle objects. And with the help of the Munich aerospace company Kayser-Threde, students built models at 1:6 scale using a puppet to simulate ingress, egress, and reach.

After three months of design, the students traveled to the Johnson Space Center in Houston and presented their proposals. Impressed, NASA officials offered to test their designs on the KC-135 (a turbojet transport that flies parabolic arcs to produce weightless periods of 20 to 25 seconds), provided the students could build a prototype of their Flexible On-Orbit Workstation (FLOW) with integrated seat restraint and space shower—in four months. As the students found out, learning by doing is a long leap from investigations with computers or scale models. They raised money, lured local aerospace experts into service, and made the prototypes that they successfully tested on the KC-135.

If the intellectual rigor exhibited at the Houston symposium is any indication, the space architect will be this century’s version of the Renaissance’s artist-cum-scientist. There is much to be imagined, discovered, and invented. The work shown here represents a small percentage of the effort going on all over the world. More will be revealed on the architectural record Web site.