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Source: Foster + Partners

Sunbathing could be tricky

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 – don’t 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’ 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.

Click here to read the full article from 31 January 2013

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