Whether it’s an architecture project or aerospace program, if you zoom out far enough you’re trying to do more or less the same thing

In one sense, the process of designing for space is similar to designing a building, but the specific, practical knowledge that’s needed for designing in space is quite different from that of building things on Earth.

I can’t be the only one doing the math on this.

When it comes to putting people into space, ‘space is hard’ in several different ways, but one of them is keeping them alive once they get there.

We expect a lot of things in our lives to “just work,” and when they don’t, they can end up in the trash and soon get replaced. But neither of those expectations can be taken for granted in space.

In my mind there are something like 3 types of space architecture.

When designing a building, you generally start with the location, a site, and 100% of buildings benefit from being located in the Earth’s biosphere. In space, that’s definitely not the case.

As they do for buildings on Earth, architects can offer a holistic vision for space habitats, as well as a strategic framework through which the broader design team can work to realize that vision.