Archinect - News

It's a 'Go' for ZGF's Space Shuttle Endeavour installation at the California Science Center

2024-01-31T12:12:00-05:00

ZGF Architects has completed the installation of the decommissioned Space Shuttle Endeavour and orbiter system as a part of their Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center expansion at the California Science Center museum in Los Angeles.

The unique project will culminate in a three-level level scheme that includes 150 different exhibitions, the largest of which, a 200-foot-tall central gallery space, is set to be used as a new permanent display for the 122-foot-long retired NASA orbiter.

Video courtesy California Science Center

Since July, the construction team at Exposition Park has been busy at work on the “Soft mate” phase of the “Go for Stack” installation process for the space shuttle apparatus. The same painstaking process that decades ago prepared the shuttle for its 25 launches into outer space was once again enacted at the site for the record first time in civilian history. Work to install the solid rocket boosters and external tank preceded the shuttle’s move into place before ...

Louisiana State and NASA to develop waterless concrete for 3D printing on the Moon

2023-12-14T12:06:00-05:00

Louisiana State University is collaborating with NASA on a project investigating the potential for natural materials on the Moon to be used as 3D printed waterless concrete. The research is part of a wider mission to develop feasible robotic construction technologies that can support the building of long-term settlements on the Lunar surface, including habitats, landing pads, and radiation shields.

The research is a partnership between LSU Construction Management Assistant Professor Ali Kazemian alongside scientists Michael Fiske and Jennifer Edmunson from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Together, the team will investigate how raw materials already available on the Moon and Mars, namely sulfur and regolith, can be used to develop 3D printed waterless concrete.

Related on Archinect: ICON to work with DARPA on a framework for Lunar architecture. Image credit: BIG

Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the team will study the performance and limits ...

NASA’s $2 billion Berkeley Space Center proposal unveiled

2023-10-17T11:48:00-04:00

Details have been revealed on the design of the $2 billion Berkeley Space Center at the NASA Research Park in the Bay Area of California. A joint venture between SKS Partners and UC Berkeley, in collaboration with HOK and Field Operations, the 36-acre hub will be dedicated to “identifying, incubating, and launching technological breakthroughs across a diverse set of fields including astronautics, quantum computing, climate studies, and the social sciences.”

Image courtesy: SKS Partners / UC Berkeley / HOK / Field Operations

Located within NASA’s Ames Research Center, the development will include 1.4 million square feet of office and R&D space, including wet and dry labs, as well as conference space, academic facilities, and retail amenities. 18 acres of open space are planned, including outdoor working spaces and a central green area.

Image courtesy: SKS Partners / UC Berkeley / HOK / Field Operations

Among the environmental features to be incorporated in the scheme are low-carbon ene...

California Science Center begins construction on Space Shuttle Endeavour exhibition facility, designed by ZGF

2023-07-10T12:23:00-04:00

The California Science Center has offered an update on the construction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. When completed, the center will be home to the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which will be configured in a ‘ready-to-launch’ system complete with the orbiter Endeavour, solid rocket boosters, and external tank.

Image credit: California Science Center

As we reported in June 2022, the ZGF Architects-designed scheme will house 150 exhibits across three multi-level galleries, and will more than double the California Science Center’s educational exhibit area. The central gallery containing the Space Shuttle Endeavour will rise 20 stories to a maximum height of 200 feet.

Image credit: California Science Center

On July 20th, 2023, the center will commence ‘Go for Stack,’ a complex process of moving and lifting each of the space shuttle components into place. The six-month process will begin with the installation of the aft skirts, on top of which the solid rocket motors will be stack...

Spaceport America selects RS&H, Populous, Zia team for master plan project in New Mexico

2023-05-18T17:47:00-04:00

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) has selected a team comprising RS&H, Populous, and Zia Engineering & Environmental Consultants to spearhead the Spaceport America Master Plan Project.

Located adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, Spaceport America is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. It aims to serve as a multi-modal site for point-to-point space transportation, aerospace operations, research, development, and testing.

The spaceport master plan study will explore the potential for future space and aviation operations, macro and micro-industry trends, national security space requirements and operations, public and private investments, potential launch vehicles operating from the site, frequency of flights, potential payloads, propellant storage, regulatory trends, and development options for future spaceport operations.

Populous will provide master-planning support, along with leading the branding and event pro...

Five anonymous proposals for the Bezos Learning Center: Can you spot the starchitects?

2022-09-09T11:18:00-04:00

Five design proposals have been unveiled for the Bezos Learning Center at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The $130 million Smithsonian scheme, funded by a $200 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will serve as an education center on the topics of air and space exploration.

The center will be built on the site of a recently-demolished glass pyramid pavilion designed by the late architect Gyo Obata, which opened in 1988. In its place, the Bezos Learning Center will measure approximately 50,000 square feet, holding restaurants, exhibition spaces, a rooftop terrace, and a public observatory.

The five proposals have been made publicly available for comment on the National Air and Space Museum website until September 19th. While the architectural team behind each scheme remains anonymous, the scale and profile of the commission has no doubt attracted some of the largest names in the industry.

A timeline for the selection of winners, and a program for co...

NASA and AI SpaceFactory’s vaulted lunar outpost will be 3D printed by autonomous robots

2022-07-01T12:09:00-04:00

AI SpaceFactory and the NASA Kennedy Space Center have unveiled the design of LINA, a 3D printed structure intended to become a lunar outpost. Designed to be constructed by autonomous robots on the Moon's south pole, the scheme is defined by Romanesque arches that can withstand high compressive loads with minimal material.

Video via AI SpaceFactory on YouTube

LINA’s structural concept will be 3D printed using an Earth-sourced polymer and lunar regolith. Unlike conventional 3D printing where layers are added parallel to the ground, LINA will be 3D printed at a 60-degree angle to allow construction of the vaulted roof. The arches will be topped with 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) of lunar regolith to provide protection from radiation, micrometeorites, lunar seismic activity, and extreme thermal swings.

Image via AI SpaceFactory

The outpost’s location near the rim of the Shackleton crater on the lunar south pole offers near-continuous sunlight on the crater’s peaks, which the team will exploit...

ZGF designs new home for Space Shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles

2022-06-03T12:04:00-04:00

ZGF Architects has unveiled details of its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which has just broken ground in Los Angeles. The 200,000-square-foot facility will house 150 exhibits across three multi-level galleries and will serve as the permanent home of Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of three remaining flown space shuttle orbiters.

Image by ZGF Architects LLP

The scheme, designed by ZGF with engineering by ARUP, is arranged around three thematic galleries, named Air, Space, and Shuttle. The Air Gallery will explore the four physical forces behind flight: lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Approximately 20 aircraft will be on display in the gallery, including a segment of a real Boeing 747. The Air Gallery will also feature a wind tunnel exhibit to allow visitors to better understand the forces under which planes fly.

Image by ZGF Architects LLP

The Space Gallery centers on the various machines and inventions created to understand and explore space, including telescopes, robots, and spac...

MIT Media Lab designs and tests modular tiles for self-assembling space architecture

2022-05-16T11:50:00-04:00

The MIT Media Lab has shared insights into their pioneering project to build habitats in outer space. Named TESSERAE, the project seeks to create a highly-engineered tile which can be used as a building block for self-assembling, adaptive, reconfigurable structures.

Artist's render of TESSERAE spaceship. Credit: MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative (Artist's Render courtesy of Igor Neminov)

Rather than the traditional method of transporting fixed, rigid habitation modules into outer space, creating structures such as the International Space Station, the team behind TESSERAE believes that their modular, self-assembly method can lower payload weight and reduce construction complexity, while also broadening the possibilities of what future space architecture may look like.

TESSERAE assembly concept: Flat-packed for launch, tiles released to swirl and quasi-stochastically self assemble, target geometry, constellation of multiple docked TESSERAE modules. Credit: Ariel Ekblaw

Each TE...

NASA awards grants to three U.S. universities to develop lunar infrastructure

2022-03-01T14:58:00-05:00

Three U.S. university-led proposals have been selected by NASA to develop technologies for living and working on the Moon.

This push for technological development comes as NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon through its Artemis missions, the agency’s plan to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon for long-term exploration using innovative technologies. The advancements are key to meeting the challenges of inhabiting the Moon. These efforts were selected under the second Lunar Surface Technology Research (LuSTR) solicitation, which is part of NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants program. Here, the agency supports groundbreaking research in advanced space technology by academic researchers.

Previously on Archinect: RISD students are helping NASA develop its Artemis mission uniforms for 20

The selected projects cover three topics laid out in the solicitation: “Autonomous Construction,” in which The Colorado School of Mines will develop tools and me...

Come for the view, stay for the artificial gravity: world's first space hotel to kick off construction by 2026

2021-03-03T14:54:00-05:00

While the concept of space tourism may sound ludicrous, plans to launch people into space as a vacation vs. a vocation are well underway. Orbital Assembly, a large space construction company, announced this year in a virtual event on its YouTube channel that it was on track to begin construction on the world’s (er, galaxy’s) first space hotel by 2026 [...].

Scale comparison between the planned Voyager Space Station (200 meters/656 feet in overall diameter) and the existing International Space Station (73 meters/240 feet long and 109 meters/358 feet wide). Image courtesy of Orbital Assembly.

ICON teams up with BIG and SEArch+ for Project Olympus, an off-world construction system for the Moon

2020-10-28T17:44:00-04:00

Icon, an Austin, Texas-based developer of construction technologies, received funding to research and develop a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the moon. It has engaged two architecture firms as partners for the project: Denmark-based BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and New York City-based SEArch+.

Fred Scharmen joins us on the podcast to discuss his new book "Space Settlements"

2019-08-29T09:00:00-04:00

This week we’re joined by one of our favorite regulars, Fred Scharmen. Fred currently teaches architecture and urban design at Morgan State University's School of Architecture and Planning, and is the Principal and Co-Founder of The Working Group on Adaptive Systems. What brings him on today’s show is his just-released new book Space Settlements. The 400-page paperback contains a visually stunning collection of designs for space colonies from the mid-70’s, including iconic artwork and comparison studies of 20th and 21st century architecture projects. Our conversation talks about his research leading up to this book, the process of writing the book and the fascinating stories discovered along the way.

Painting by Don Davis, courtesy NASA Ames Research Center

Listen to episode 143 of Archinect Sessions, “Space Settlements, with Fred Scharmen”.

iTunes: Click here to listen, and click the "Subscribe" button below the logo to automatically download new episodes.
Apple Podcast App (iOS): c...

Designs for outer space at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

2019-08-01T19:31:00-04:00

Fifty years since the first footsteps on the Moon, the exploration of the cosmos remains irresistible, and the ambition to establish commercial space travel and planetary settlements continues to capture the imagination. Far Out: Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space celebrates the visionary ideas and ingenious solutions from architects, artists, and designers who dared to imagine life far out among the stars.

Entitled Far Out: Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space, SFMOMA's exhibition celebrating the "booming space industry," will be open from July 20, 2019 to January 20, 2020. "Extraterrestrial conditions amplify the challenge to design for space travel, and new research and technologies are making what was once science fiction a reality," the museum writes. The exhibition will explore the work of artists and architects and how their ideas fit into "our cosmic quest."

Jeff Bezos wants to go to space because "it's important"

2019-07-19T16:08:00-04:00

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world with a current net worth of $125 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. And he’s investing much of his Amazon fortune in the development of space technologies through his aerospace company Blue Origin. Why? “Because I think it’s important,” Bezos tells Norah O’Donnell of CBS Evening News in an interview which aired Tuesday.

In a CBS Evening News special, Amazon's Jeff Bezos shares with Norah O'Donnell the importance of his space initiatives and his aerospace company Blue Origin. In a passionate voice, Bezos exclaims, "We humans have to go to space if we are going to continue to have a thriving civilization."

He goes on to discuss the world's current state and the danger it's under. From overpopulation, climate change, pollution, and big industry, Bezos proclaims, "We are in the process of destroying this planet. And we have sent robotic probes to every planet in the solar system — this is the good one. So, we have to preserve this planet."

Bezos isn't the first person to dream about living in space. His goals for using Blue Origin as a catalyst to make his space city possible has undergone much criticism. Perhaps his aspirations are in the right place, but his plans for this "possible future" have created quite the response from the general public. Critics like Fred Scharmen have shared their reactio...

Architecture students collaborate with European Space Agency to develop a sustainable moon base

2019-02-08T20:00:00-05:00

The ESA's astronaut center in Cologne, Germany, partners with universities and research institutions to study moon-related concepts in preparation for future missions. Angelus Chrysovalantis Alfatzis is one of the researchers who has contributed to the development of a promising concept for a moon base, according to a statement from ESA.

Space may be the final frontier, but over the years technological advances has brought the idea of humans inhabiting space a lot closer. The European Space Agency (ESA) has partnered with universities and research institutions to investigate and study concepts related to the moon and future space missions. One student in particular has presented a promising lunar base concept that not only focuses on supporting human life, but also protecting inhabitants from the moon's harsh environmental conditions. Architectural engineering student, Angelus Chrysovalantis Alfatzis is in his final year the the National Technical University of Athens. After much research Alfatzis has developed a design concept that factors in extreme conditions such as radiation exposure, terrain, gravity, and drastic changes in temperature.

Architectural engineering student Angelus Chrysovalantis Alfatzis working on moon base model, Image courtesy of ESA

Alfatzis' concept for a lunar base was developed in conjunct...

Chinese city to launch artificial moon into space. What could possibly go wrong?

2018-10-29T19:13:00-04:00

It might sound like a plot cooked up by a cartoon villain, but a city in southwestern China is aiming to launch into space an artificial moon that could replace streetlights by bathing the ground in a “dusk-like glow.” [...] the satellite’s mirror-like exterior would reflect sunlight down to Earth, creating a glow about eight times brighter than the moon. The artificial moon, which he said would orbit about 500 kilometers above Earth, could save $174 million in electricity from streetlights.

The capital of China's Sichuan province, Chengdu, could have its own illumination satellite 'moon' up in the skies by 2020, according to the People's Daily.

Light pollution, and its documented health effects on humans and nocturnal wildlife, doesn't seem to be much of a concern to the officials behind the audacious space-mirror scheme. As Kang Weimin, Director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace at Harbin Institute of Technology, attempts to reassure: "The light of the satellite is similar to a dusk-like glow, so it should not affect animals’ routines." – Okay, we're all cool.

Japanese scientists to run space elevator experiment in orbit

2018-09-05T13:31:00-04:00

A team made up of researchers at Shizuoka University and other institutions is set to conduct an experiment in September for a project to develop a "space elevator" connecting Earth and a space station by cable -- attracting attention as a possible dream vehicle for space travel and cargo shipments in the future.

The idea of a space elevator has been around since 1895 when Russian/Soviet rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (inspired by the newly erected Eiffel Tower in Paris) envisioned a very long cable running from earth's equator to space beyond geostationary orbit with a counterweight at the top to offset our planet's gravity—maintaining an upright tether, under tension, to run cars up and down.

IKEA designers are learning about compact storage from NASA's space architect

2017-06-21T19:55:00-04:00

Confined in Utah’s Mars Desert Research habitat for three days—habitat diameter: 33 feet—the five-person team experienced the cramped living quarters and zero-waste living necessary to survive a journey to outer space.

Designers from IKEA are exploring space-saving solutions for tiny homes by living in an actual Mars research station. During the immersion workshop led by Constance Adams, NASA architect behind the habitat for the first human mission to Mars, the team examines the ways in which astronauts' insight could be translated to innovative furniture solutions for dense urban environments.

“My dream outcome will be to solve the biggest problem on earth…storage,” said IKEA’s head of design, Marcus Engman. “How could you design storage in a completely new way?”

A tower designed to hang from an asteroid in Earth's orbit

2017-03-29T12:22:00-04:00

Following on the heels of that paperclip-esque tower design for New York, here’s another ‘out there’ skyscraper design. Literally, this one is ‘out there’—in Earth’s orbit. Designed by Clouds Architecture Office, this speculative building would hang from an asteroid, which would be lowered into orbit. Then a high strength cable would descend down to Earth and support a super tall tower.

“Since this new tower typology is suspended in the air, it can be constructed anywhere in the world and transported to its final location,” state the architects. “The proposal calls for Analemma to be constructed over Dubai, which has proven to be a specialist in tall building construction at one fifth the cost of New York City construction.”

From the architects:

Orbital mechanics for Analemma: geosynchronous orbit matches earth's sidereal rotation period of one day. The tower's position in the sky traces out a path in a figure-8 form, returning the tower to exactly the same position in the sky each da...

MOONTOPIA: Design a self-sufficient lunar colony in this out of this world challenge

2016-09-08T12:49:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Eleven Magazine.

In 1969, the Space Race peaked with the success of the Apollo 11 mission bringing the first man to walk on the Moon. Today, nearly half a century later, new technological advances and a renewed interest in space are igniting a new race.

This time, however, we are tired of just walking. We want to inhabit!

But how?

Eleven has launched its first international ideas and design competition on Space Architecture! The challenge ends on the 11th November 2016 and will be judged by a prestigious group of space architects, researchers, academics and representatives from NASA’s lunar inhabitation program.

Eleven invites thinkers, architects, designers, artists, academics and visionaries from around the world to imagine innovative solutions for Moontopia - the first ever self-sufficient lunar colony designed for living, working, researching and - why not - a little space tourism, too.

How will mankind exist on the Moon? You decide.

Find out more: htt...

MOONTOPIA: An out of this world challenge...

2016-08-12T12:28:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Eleven Magazine.

In 1969, the Space Race peaked with the successful Apollo 11 mission, which allowed the first man to walk on the moon.
Between 1969 and 1972, there have been six successful manned missions to the moon, all from the USA. In total, 12 people (all male) have walked on the lunar surface.
No one has walked on the surface of the moon since 1972.
Today, nearly half a century later, new technological advances and a renewed desire for space exploration have ignited a new race. Attention is moving back to the moon. This time, however, we are tired of just walking… what we want is to inhabit! Space Architecture is becoming a growing field with the desired outcome to kick-start space tourism, expand our scientific knowledge, and ultimately make mankind a multi-planetary / galactic species.
But how?
Eleven is excited to announce its first international ideas and design competition on space architecture.
We invite thinkers, architects, designers, academic...

NASA discovers liquid water on Mars

2015-09-28T14:57:00-04:00

“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”

In an announcement made this morning, NASA stated that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected "the strongest evidence yet" of liquid water on the fourth planet from the Sun.

The new evidence emerged from data collected by an imaging spectrometer mounted on the spacecraft, which was launched in 2005 and has been orbiting Mars since 2006. According to the announcement, "researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet." The signatures appear to corroborate existing hypotheses.

Known as recurring slop lineae (RSL), the streaks seem to ebb and flow, apparently in accord with seasonal fluctuations. Previously suggested as an indicator of the presence of water, the discovery of hydrated salts further validates this idea.

The salts – likely a mixture of magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate, and sodium perchlorate – would help lower the freezing point of what is likely a subsurface flow that occasionally breach...

Newly patented space elevator could take astronauts 12 miles up into the stratosphere

2015-08-24T17:20:00-04:00

Canadian space and defense company Thoth Technology is attempting to make reaching the stratosphere as simple as riding an elevator up a tower about 23 times taller than the world’s tallest building. The Thoth space elevator patent, approved by the US patent office on July 21, specifies that the tower could be built on any “planetary surface,” (i.e. not just Earth), a sign that Thoth is thinking pretty far ahead. [...] the top of the tower will serve as a rocket launch site.

In slightly more recent-technology elevator news:

Comet could be home to alien life

2015-07-06T20:15:00-04:00

The comet landed on by the spacecraft Philae could well be home to an abundance of alien microbial life, according to leading astronomers. Features of the comet, named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, such as its organic-rich black crust, are most likely explained by the presence of living organisms beneath an icy surface, the scientists have said.

On the other hand, Stuart Clark refutes the claims made in the linked article. In a response also published to the Guardian, "The vast majority of comet scientists would agree that comet 67P’s surface features are much more easily explained by non-biological mechanisms."

Philae, the spacecraft that landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November, is not equipped to search for direct evidence of human life. Neither is Rosetta, the European spacecraft currently in orbit around the comet. Calls to equip the spacecrafts were "allegedly laughed out of court," according to the article, which lays out an argument that an unwillingness to intellectually accept the possibility extraterrestrial life inhibits the possibility of finding any.

The $1.5B 30m telescope (TMT) will be the biggest ever

2015-04-08T18:22:00-04:00

...after a year-long delay, Canada has committed $243.5 million to build a giant telescope observatory in Hawaii. The Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, will cost an estimated $1.5 billion USD to build...When completed, the TMT will be one of the largest telescopes in existence...Its 30 meter-wide mirror lens...will allow scientists to search the skies for planets outside of our own solar system, as well as other phenomena like supermassive black holes.

Relax on Kepler-16b: Where Your Shadow Always Has Company

2015-01-12T13:39:00-05:00

Remember the memorable double sunset on the desert planet Tatooine in the original Star Wars? As it turns out, such a vista isn't unimaginable – if you can get to Kepler-16b, an exoplanet about 196 light years away. Of course, if you did get there, you might be disappointed to find that the planet is actually a gas giant, or that its temperature is close to that of dry ice.

One of a thousand such exoplanets recently discovered by NASA, Kepler-16b has been commemorated in a poster designed by Joby Harris, David Delgado and Dan Goods. In a style reminiscent of early 20th-century travel advertisements, the poster is part of a series that playfully celebrates the exciting discoveries that have been made by Kepler telescope, launched in 2009 to discover Earth-like planets. Published under the guise of the fictional "Exoplanet Travel Bureau," the posters help bring the excitement of the project into legible terms for us layfolk.

"Experience the gravity of HD 40307G," a "super planet" with ...

Stars in their eyes: architects and scientists mull designs for ark in space

2014-05-27T13:23:00-04:00

Architects, designers and scientists have joined forces to explore the technologies needed to build a spacecraft that could be launched within the next 100 years and sustain human life for generations. Early designs for the ship envisage a giant 15km-wide ball filled with soil that will support complex ecosystems of microbes, plants and animal life. Rather than building homes on top of the soil, humans will live within, carving out rooms in a network of connected burrows.

NASA looks to robots and 3D printers for huge, self-constructing, orbiting structures

2013-09-04T18:09:00-04:00

Instead of specially engineering spacecraft components to fit into a rocket, NASA could densely pack materials like fiber and polymer into existing spacecraft and create the components while orbiting the planet. This cuts down on cost and opens up the possibility for larger spacecraft.

Danforth W. Toan - the architect aboard the space station 45 years ago

2013-04-03T16:51:00-04:00

In 1967, his architectural firm, Warner Burns Toan Lunde of 724 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, won a contract to advise the Grumman Corporation of Bethpage, N.Y., for what would eventually be Grumman’s bid to construct an orbiting space station. Mr. Toan worked on the project for the next 20 years, until Grumman was bypassed as a prime contractor by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.