In a hotel far, far away
As we look at the progress of space tourism, the archive revealed what lunar holiday resorts could look like 鈥� don鈥檛 expect any Jacuzzis or all-inclusive cocktails.
Six years ago, Foster + Partners was signed up to design buildings on the moon as part of a consortium by the European Space Agency. The practice thought up a lunar base to house four people, which could offer protection from meteorites, gamma radiation and high-temperature fluctuations. The result looks as science-fictionesque as any Star Wars fan could wish.
The base would be unfolded from a tubular module that could be transported by rocket. An inflatable dome would then extend from one end of this cylinder to provide a support structure for construction. Layers of regolith, or lunar soil, would be built up over the dome by a robot-operated 3D printer to create a protective shell.
One critic in the comment section mentioned that the houses look just like Bilbo Baggins鈥� hobbit house in The Lord of the Rings. Some might be even less complimentary and say the structure reminded them of Home Hill, the domed, grass-covered house that the Teletubbies lived in for the 1990s TV show.
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