Architects Vie to Design the City of the Future--On the Moon [Slide Show]
The Moon Capital competition brought out new visions of lunar living, circa 2069
![Architects Vie to Design the City of the Future--On the Moon [Slide Show]](https://www.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/FF301E20-582E-4DB3-A52160D9EAB49503.jpg?w=590&h=393)
Architects Vie to Design the City of the Future--On the Moon [Slide Show]
- Gliding through Space In the future, according to a group of architects from Massachusetts-based New World Design, humans living on the moon will suffer from osteoporosis due to the bone-depleting effects of microgravity. To combat the condition, the team created structures to support a sport they call "gliding," in which moon residents would effectively swim through the air. Designers of the future, they propose, would develop interconnected, looping tracks that surround a living module in the center. In addition to providing health benefits, the tracks might double as playgrounds; the architects note that kids could "use the gliding loops for hyperfast games of tag." SHIFTBoston
- A Heavenly Match Every two years the Olympics brings together nations from around the globe for a truly world-class sporting contest. The battle to host the games, however, can be as viciously competitive as the games themselves. Brian Harms and Keith Bradley, students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, designed an Olympic stadium in an existing moon crater that would, Harms says, "be the first neutral Olympics; no competitor would have a home-team advantage." The designers imagine that a future moon-based Olympics could take advantage of microgravity to create new games that are unplayable in Earth's gravitational environment; jurors enjoyed imagining the heights achieved by lunar-based pole-vaulters or high jumpers. SHIFTBoston
- Interplanetary Power The abundance of helium 3 and the need for energy also inspired students Ryan Oliason, Ana Matijevic and Nimet Anwar from the University of Texas Arlington, who created what they call "Energy without Borders". Helium 3 would be mined for use in a sustained nuclear fusion reactor, shown above, and the energy would be utilized on Earth. SHIFTBoston
- Mining for Food, Finalist These eerie space pods are actually enclosed agricultural centers elevated above the lunar surface, designed by Anthony Di Mari and Alberto Govela, both of whom recently graduated with master's degrees in architecture from Harvard University and Rice University, respectively. In researching lunar resources they discovered that the moon has an abundance of helium 3, which is rare on Earth but has potential uses in nuclear fusion. The architects envision mining helium 3, converting it into a superfluid state and using that liquid as a hydroponic medium for agriculture. The Moon Capital judges loved the visuals and the idea of combining mining with agriculture, but they pointed out that liquid helium is far too cold to serve as a growth medium for terrestrial crops. SHIFTBoston
- Home, Safe Home, Finalist The crater chosen for a moon colony by Gareth Leech, an architecture student at Oxford Brookes University in England, is, he says, protected against meteor strikes by the crater's walls. Leech provided detailed descriptions of all the colony's needs, from a rover port to decontamination showers to life-support pods. Each pod fits atop the other, with legs supporting photovoltaic cells that would power the base. SHIFTBoston
- A Gradual Sprawl, Finalist Recent Cornell University graduate Mengni Zhang created a vision of a moon outpost that grows over time, slowly colonizing the surface with a variety of interlocking modules grouped together in various densities. The base of his plan comprises units that link together in a web, together providing a wide variety of human needs on the lunar surface, including water and air circulation, energy and sewage. Each module would contain space for recreation, scientific research and industrial activities such as mining. SHIFTBoston
- A Beam of Power, First Place Winner The judges awarded first prize to Bryna Andersen, a graduate architecture student at Columbia University, for her vision of a solar energy collector on the moon. She capitalized on ideas put forth by astrophysicist David Criswell of the University of Houston, who advocates building lunar-based solar-power collectors and sending the energy to Earth via radar beams. Andersen designed a power tower composed of thousands of fiber-optic cables, built from the moon's powdery soil, or regolith. Her vertical station would also provide energy for a horizontal moon base below, which she envisioned as serving employees and tourists or acting as a research base for future space travel and exploration. SHIFTBoston
