Architecture studio SOM and the European Space Agency have created more visuals for Moon Village, a concept for a settlement on the moon made up of inflatable modules.
SOM presented a detailed scale model of Moon Village, which it first announced in 2019, as part of its exhibition Life Beyond Earth at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale.
The proposal is for a collection of individual four-level units located in the moon's south polar region that would provide hubs for scientific research.
The units are designed to be inflatable
SOM said that Moon Village could grow over time, evolving from a settlement for research into thriving communities offering wider opportunities such as tourism.
"For SOM, designing a Moon Village meant creating an environment in which humans will be able to thrive over the long term," senior designer Daniel Inocente told Dezeen. "This is human-centric design."
Life Beyond Earth is on show at the Venice Architecture Biennale
The modules are designed to be inflatable so that they could be compressed and transported to the moon by rocket, where they would be expanded to full size.
Each of the units would be built around a hybrid structural design that would include a rigid titanium alloy perimeter frame and a soft structural shell.
A scale model and site plan are included in the installation
This shell would feature a layer to protect from micrometeorites and a layer made of open-foam polyurethane and double-aluminised Mylar for...