Press review

Im Wohnzimmer der Astronauten - In the living room of the astronauts (German)

Schöner wohnen im All - Living better in space (German)

Architecture Beyond the Earth's Horizon
symposium and panel discussion
sponsored by proHelvetia, FFG and RAUM.FILM

Location: Architekturzentrum Wien - Podium
Symposium: Wednesday, December 2 2009, 18:00
Tickets: Admission free!

a cooperation by the Architekturzentrum Wien and the Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG)

It is 40 years since man first stepped on the moon. These first footsteps on the Earth's satellite, followed in astonishment by humanity via television on 21 July 1969, still count today as an incomparable milestone despite being so recent. Following a loss of interest in this mission to the moon, a renewed interest in space travel is to be noted in the last ten years. New missions to the moon, to Mars and beyond are confronting architects and designers with tasks for which they have to depart from familiar operational territory. The subject being engaged with is: possibilities for the future of housing, living and working on Earth as well as in outer space.

6pm Dietmar Steiner, director of the Az W and Harald Posch, head of the Agentur für Luft- und Raumfahrt of the FFG: welcome address
6.15pm Barbara Imhof, space architect and Kurt Zweifel, curator: introduction

• 6.30pm brief talks (20 minutes each)
  Brent Sherwood, Manager of Strategic Planning & Project Formulation, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  Gregor Eichinger, Professor at the ETH Zürich, Chair for User Interface
  Léopold Eyharts, ESA Astronaut
  Piero Messina, Head of the Coordination Office, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, ESA
  Tristan Weddigen, Professor at Zurich University, Art History Institute

8.30pm panel discussion
moderated by Elke Krasny, culture theorist and curator
in English

admission free

LINKS:

Space architects platform

NASA Human Spaceflight Gallery

NASA High Definition Video

NASA Constellation Program – Human Exploration

ESA Human Spaceflight

ESA Human Spaceflight Gallery

MARS 500 Study

RUSSIAN MULTI MEDIA gallery

JAPANESE Astronaut corps

Astronaut Training in Star City

Astronaut diaries

Preamble by Barbara Imhof and Kurt Zweifel, Vienna May 2009:

Forty years ago, on July 21, 1969 (CET), a human being set foot on Earth’s satellite for the first time, in the Sea of Tranquility or Mare Tranquillitatis to be exact. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were first overcome by silence, then Commander Armstrong uttered the famous line, “That’s one small step for [a] man, but one giant leap for mankind.” And it really was. At 03:56 a.m. Central Eurpean time, millions of bleary-eyed viewers held their breath as they stared at the flickering black and white screen. In that same moment, the human race shared a sense of unity. Armstrong and Aldrin represented homo sapiens in the act of leaving the cradle of humanity after so many millennia. The memory of this morning was burned into our collective consciousness, and when it began to fade individual nations got together in international partnerships to stimulate lunar programs under new political conditions.

In the ten years preceding 1969, there had been about 70 unmanned and manned missions to and around the moon. The deployment of two test pilots to the moon was celebrated as a scientific triumph, the highlight of this incredible technological acceleration.

After a phase of declining attention, interest in space travel has been picking up again in the last two decades. Despite limited funding, the major space agencies have attempted to revitalize the spirit of research of days past and made joint efforts to approach Earth’s closest neighbor. An international crew is set to make new footsteps on the moon in 2020.
“Space exploration is a handcraft,” says American artist Tom Sachs – just like architecture. Every building represents a prototype where only a few prefabricated parts or automatically constructed elements are used. The International Space Station is the largest construction site and soon the largest inhabited structure in space. About 300 kilometers from earth, six people with different backgrounds and cultures are already living there on long-term missions. In terms of structure and budget, the Space Station is the largest research project in international partnership to date and commands respect for that reason alone.

These long-term missions, along with the new impetus from changing occupational structures in the space business and burgeoning space tourism, are introducing new opportunities for architects and designers to get involved. A considerable number of them are working with engineers and scientists on developing designs and architectures for human life outside of Earth’s atmosphere. The process of convincing the space agencies represents a tremendous challenge. Architects and designers have to redefine the scope of their work. They have to find sensible ways to integrate themselves and argue every step they take.

That’s one aspect. The other consists of the expansion of the operational field and the study of future possibilities for living and working. It incorporates concepts of commonalities and differences, including resources, efficiency, economy, technology, cultural dimensions, innovation, and the distinction between gravity and weightlessness.