Lunar Design Competition. (Courtesy of suckerPUNCH)

Trends in space travel are currently being shifted from government expedition and flexing of technological prowess to a commercial endeavor. Space tourism is projected to expand rapidly in the next decade creating a highly profitable new leisure activity. The Virgin Galactic Spaceport will be completed in the next year as well as several other similar facilities by competing companies. As costs come down and interest rises, the thrill of a zero gravity plane ride will be a top vacation. But who wants to go on a 3 hour flight for 6 minutes of weightlessness when they can go to the moon for a week? Richard Branson has discussed plans to create space hotels as a stopover on the way to the moon. This competition challenges entrants to consider the activities and their architecture that would be waiting on the moon for guests. You can only look at rocks and moon dust for so long, right? How about a low gravity nightclub? Neil Armstrong’s driving range? A theater for a space opera?

This competition aims to consider what cultural buildings and programs would be exciting and vital for a port stop aboard a space cruise. How would the typologies of Earth mutate or adapt when implemented on the moon? With current or near future technologies would the buildings exist submerged, below, above or floating in relation to the lunar surface? Do floors stack in parallel as gravity dictates on Earth? What is the nature of the skin in terms of maintaining pressure and light control? Is the moon a sacred place full of spaces of quiet contemplation, is it family friendly, is it a place for intellectual enlightenment or is it a mecca for sin?

The program is up to the entrants. The proposal should contain at least 35,000 sq ft of built space and a port for incoming spaceships. The entries should also consider and imagine how the landscape moon is represented through architectural drawings and renderings.

For more information: suckerPUNCH