Architects have a role to play in interplanetary space that has barely yet been explored. The architectural community is largely unaware of this new territory, for which there is still no agreed method of practice. There is moreover a general confusion, in scientific and related fields, over what architects might actually do there today. Current extra-planetary designs generally fail to explore the dynamic and relational nature of space-time, and often reduce human habitation to a purely functional problem. This is compounded by a crisis over the representation (drawing) of space-time. The present work returns to first principles of architecture in order to realign them with current socio-economic and technological trends surrounding the space industry. What emerges is simultaneously the basis for an ecological space architecture, and the representational strategies necessary to draw it. We explore this approach through a work of design-based research that describes the construction of Ocean; a huge body of water formed by the collision of two asteroids at the Translunar Lagrange Point (L2), that would serve as a site for colonisation, and as a resource to fuel future missions. Ocean is an experimental model for extra-planetary space design and its representation, within the autonomous discipline of architecture.

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Space-Time and Architecture

Francis Field1

Jon Goodbun2

Victoria Watson2

1 Department of Ontological Theatre, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2 Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster,

London, UK

This article first appeared in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society ,

67 (2014), 322- 331. Reproduced here by kind permission of the British

Interplanetary Society.

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322

Francis Field, Jon Goodbun and Victoria Watson

JBIS, Vol. 67, pp.322-331, 2014

SPACE-TIME AND ARCHITECTURE

1. INTRODUCTION

The project presented here describes the construction of

an ocean in space, formed by the collision of two massive

asteroids at the Translunar Lagrange Point (L2). The proposal

for Ocean, emerged out of an investigation into socio-economic

and technological trends framing current approaches to space.

It was conducted from within an architectural design studio

(The Department of Ontological Theatre (DOT) [1]) at the

Royal College of Art. Within the school context this project

was devised as a means of escape from the designing of

toroidal colonies and space stations that continues to haunt

our imaginations as designers today. In the context of this

paper, Ocean should be understood as a new kind of space

settlement: a complete but open-ended ecosystem that could

be engineered in any way we choose - whether this be a site

for terraforming, a reservoir for a Lunar colony, or a gateway

to Mars.

If we are to take this project out of the milieu of architectural

design research and present it within another discursive context

- say that of aeronautical engineering - it is incumbent upon

us to say a few words about the nature and possibilities of the

architectural project as understood within DOT. Architecture is

a practice that has a tension at its core in that it is an autonomous

eld of knowledge of, and investigation into, the production,

occupation and perception of all modes of form and space. Yet

architecture's very autonomy is relational in that it is constituted

out of a series of interdependencies with other disciplines

(including various engineering sciences, mathematics, art,

philosophy (Fig. 1)), available agencies (including the social

and ecological forms of matter available to use [from wood to

paper to brick to steel]), and various modes of practice (building

etc).

Traditionally architecture has primarily been concerned with

the production of buildings, and the discipline has developed

FRANCIS FIELD* , JON GOODBUN AND VICTORIA WATSON

Dept of Ontological Theatre, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, UK.

Email: franciseld@hotmail.co.uk*

Architects have a role to play in interplanetary space that has barely yet been explored. The architectural community is largely

unaware of this new territory, for which there is still no agreed method of practice. There is moreover a general confusion, in

scientic and related elds, over what architects might actually do there today. Current extra-planetary designs generally fail

to explore the dynamic and relational nature of space-time, and often reduce human habitation to a purely functional problem.

This is compounded by a crisis over the representation (drawing) of space-time. The present work returns to rst principles

of architecture in order to realign them with current socio-economic and technological trends surrounding the space industry.

What emerges is simultaneously the basis for an ecological space architecture, and the representational strategies necessary to

draw it. We explore this approach through a work of design-based research that describes the construction of Ocean; a huge

body of water formed by the collision of two asteroids at the Translunar Lagrange Point (L2), that would serve as a site for

colonisation, and as a resource to fuel future missions. Ocean is an experimental model for extra-planetary space design and

its representation, within the autonomous discipline of architecture.

Keywords: Architecture, asteroid, ecology, interplanetary superhighway, lagrangian points, ocean

a conventional (i.e. socially shared and communicable) set

of persuasive representational strategies that both allow

it to communicate with other disciplines and trades (from

engineers and scientists, to builders, to clients with the power

to realise). It also creates an imaginative medium; a space of

potential projects which is independent of any single one of

these various disciplinary relations. It is important to note that

while techniques of drawing have arisen out of architecture's

interdependence with others, once they existed they have

conferred a certain degree of imaginational autonomy .

Therefore historically, through acts of drawing, architects have

Fig. 1 We suggest that the nature of the relationship between

architecture and other disciplines has its root in their shared

ancestry, as diagrammed by Robert Fludd.

322-331.indd 322 1/19/2015 10:28:48 AM

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Space-Time and Architecture

been able to imagine and speculate upon potential futures,

different from (though related to) whatever was the currently

existing material and social reality.

This project is one such project. It draws together moments of

existing research within other disciplines, but also suggests and

species new or incipient materials and technologies, and gives

them a social form through a persuasive set of representations

(which themselves might also shift and expand the conventions

of architectural drawing [and our social imagination]).

Ocean (like all oceans) is a vast, roughly dened quantity

of water and other compounds (Fig. 2); it is best described

as an unfolding process of dynamical events in space, rather

than an object of determinate proportions. As such, this project

entails a paradigmatic shift in the thinking about space design,

in that it proposes a process object as opposed to the kind of

mechanistically conceived object that tends to be assumed in

architecture culture. For the purposes of this paper the project

is presented as a work of design research that attempts to bring

the space of NASA closer to that of the architect, by taking on

some aspects of near future technologies and needs, and staging

them as technical, material and poetic questions.

Here poetics (and aesthetics, since it belongs to the same

mode of enquiry) is conceived as those aspects of perception

rooted in felt experience rather than knowledge, of space.

The concept of extraterrestrial habitation therefore, is treated

as an inquiry into notions of place, human experience and

quality [2] of life. The phenomenon of water in space is largely

unexplored in terms that go beyond its technical application

as radiation shielding etc. (as employed in the Water Walls

[3] project). Ocean however, describes the manipulation of

this elemental material in a manner that is not industrial, but

ecological in method – in this sense, the project is believed to

be unprecedented [4].

The minimum conditions that give rise to any architecture

Fig. 2 It is through mythology and story

telling that the human creature comes to

understand the world in its own terms.

In order to bring distant asteroids into a

human frame of reference, familiar naming

conventions are often adopted. In the

case of the two swarms of asteroids borne

(at L4 and L5) in Jupiter's orbital path,

naming conventions were assumed based on

opposing sides of the Trojan War, described

in the Iliad - who's author, Homer, appears

to have pre-empted Ocean:

"Full in the mouth is stopp'd the rushing

tide,

The boiling ocean works from side to side,

The river trembles to his utmost shore,

And distant rocks re-bellow to the roar."

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Francis Field, Jon Goodbun and Victoria Watson

specic to a place in time are threefold: material, infrastructural

and socio-economic. In space these conditions still apply, but

their parameters are as yet undened. On Earth there is a fourth

parameter, this being gravity, which binds architecture to the

datum against which it is normally read - the ground. These are

the rst principles of architecture that we must address if we

are to develop an architecture of space. One ambition of this

project then, has been to reassess these conditions in order to

dene parameters within which to practice. Once a framework

is established, the construction of Ocean simply follows as the

logical consequence of the initial distinctions formed within

the new system – it being only one of an innite number of

trajectories that may unfold.

The projected value [5] of space no longer lies in political

showmanship, but in its commercial exploitation (whether this

be to facilitate holidays in LEO or a long-term lunar colony).

The contracts recently agreed between NASA and Deep Space

Industries [6] (a private company that plans to mine asteroids

for precious metals and water) are indicative of the commercial

approach to space exploration. They are also a product of the

recognition that in order to step further into the Solar System (or

even just beyond LEO) it will be necessary to harvest resources

from space and construct habitable environments - rather than

simply blasting them up there at great environmental and

nancial expense.

As the robotic spacecraft, Rosetta, prepares to land on comet

67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko [7], the space industry is closer

than it has ever been to accessing the new and seemingly

limitless material resource: ice water. Whether water is

mined from asteroids, comets or the Moon, it is undoubtedly

the most valuable resource in space. Being used to fuel both

rocket engines and life processes, water is essential to all future

missions – a prospect that does not go unmissed by the likes of

Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources [8].

Given this trend, it is not unreasonable to ask what form a

future human presence in space might take, and whether it is

one that should be endorsed? In their promotional video, DSI

announced (with the vigour of a Hollywood blockbuster) "We

will be the gas station, the oasis for air and water, and the

building supply centre for the frontier." [9], occupying a series

of near Earth outposts in huge rigs anchored to even larger

asteroids (Fig. 3). Their vision may well come true, but is this

the future we want to see, and as architects, is it possible to

suggest an alternative?

Ocean simply proposes, rather than build a gas station to

store water, why not construct an ocean in space? To do so

would entail using infrastructural resources that, in recent

years, have become available; these being the Lagrangian

Points and the Interplanetary Superhighway [10]. The proposal

also entails conceiving of the ice based asteroids as raw

materials. The feasibility of situating the next space station at

one of the ve Lagrange Points of the Earth Moon system

(either L1 or L2) is already under investigation [11], because

it would enable low energy transfer to the Moon and beyond

using the Interplanetary Superhighway (IPS) – a term coined

by Martin Lo and others at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

to describe the labyrinthine network of free or low energy

transfer 'tunnels' that connect all Lagrangian Points in the Solar

System. To maintain position at either L1 or L2, a body (or

craft) of comparatively negligible mass (relative to the Earth

and Moon) must perform a 'halo' orbit [12]; a kind of chaotic

dance with the Moon. Once the dance is perfected, the body

may maintain its position beside the Moon, expending little or

no energy in the process. In this project, situating Ocean at one

of these points has the effect of transforming datum into land

(Fig. 4).

2. PHASED CONSTRUCTION

For the purpose of illustrating the proposal, the construction

of Ocean has been split into three distinct phases, or temporal

episodes. Each phase assumes a particular time-scale, or

measure, appropriate to the events described. Phase I and II

may be measured in tens and hundreds of years respectively,

phase III assumes a geological time-scale. It is intended that

the process outlined here should serve as a set of structuring

principles in terms of the project's scope and specication,

rather that a set of absolute instructions. Initial stages of

construction are based in technologies currently available, or

under development – latter stages assume greater degrees of

technical sophistication.

During phase I, asteroids are surveyed and two are selected,

based on their relative size and water content. Known candidates

are the Jupiter Trojans, 617 Patroclus (Trojan swarm) and 624

Hektor (Greek swarm). Their mean diameters are 234km and

203km respectively [13]. Patroclus and Hektor are de-orbited

and steered through the Interplanetary Superhighway towards

Earth. Using current propulsion technology this process would

take in the order of 4-5 years. The asteroids are then corralled

into halo orbit either side of the Moon, where their movements

are synchronised over a period of months. Finally a collision

is staged at the Translunar Lagrange Point (Fig. 5). Heat from

the impact will release water at various degrees of excitation:

at this stage Ocean is a boiling cloud that gures the Lagrange

Point as emulsion in void. Ocean is then allowed to coagulate

under the inuence of its own, self induced, gravitational and

material forces (Fig. 6).

Phase II sees Ocean as surveyed and its halo orbit stabilised.

The viscosity of Ocean's surface will be engineered (from the

molecule up) so as to separate the waters from the waters, or an

inside from an outside. It now has a skin (or integument (Fig. 7))

necessary to sustain its body. Skin formation may be achieved

though accelerating the chemical processes initiated at impact,

so that Ocean's water becomes structurally differentiated and at

the same time coupled to itself (Fig. 8). When it has developed

the necessary feedback mechanisms to sustain itself as a body,

Ocean may be cultured under the controlled bombardment of

further asteroids [14].

Fig. 3 A still taken from Deep Space Industries 'Promo' video,

depicting the mining of an asteroid. (Deep Space Industries)

322-331.indd 324 1/19/2015 10:28:49 AM

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Space-Time and Architecture

Fig. 4 An early attempt to 'paint' space. In the absence of 'ground' the project called for the conceiving of Lagrangian Points as datum,

along with the development of representational strategies appropriate to their depiction. Before we can engage (as designers) with space,

the fundamental dialects of architecture need to be re-purposed; the rst being the distinction between inside and outside. If we take

'exterior' to signify the space outside of what is built, then in the case of the Ocean, 'interior' must necessarily be inside a planet.

(Francis Field)

Fig. 5 Diagram depicting a key moment in Ocean's development:

the collision staged at the Translunar Lagrange Point.

(Francis Field)

Fig. 6 Diagram depicting the force of gravity acting upon Ocean

during the conclusion of construction phase I. This period is

characterised by the subjugation of a myriad dynamic and

ephemeral bodies to the realisatiion of a greater emerging whole.

(Francis Field)

The nal phase is initiated when Ocean reaches a diameter

of more than 400 km. In this state Ocean has sufcient mass

to form a regular sphere under the inuence of its own gravity.

Ocean's frozen surface will have a high albedo, making it

easily visible from Earth (Fig. 9) as it starts to collect layers of

dust that begin to differentiate its surface. The eccentricity of

Oceans orbit will cause exure and internal heating of its rocky

core which, combined with the friction between ice plates at

its surface, will cause tidal heating necessary for a sustained

hydrological cycle. Energy captured from these geothermal

processes, along with solar energy, could be used to fuel water

purication processes for the production of drinkable water. It

is assumed that eventually Ocean may resemble other watery

moons in the Solar System, such as Saturn's moon, Enceladus

[15]. Due to its size it may then be necessary to move Ocean

into an orbit alongside the Moon - by which time the Earth

itself may have succumbed to rising sea levels!

Throughout all phases – from a nebulous cloud, to a hardened

sphere – Ocean should most properly be described as a body of

water. Because Ocean's essential material composition remains

largely constant through out the formative process, so the

different states of that process are only clearly distinguishable

in Ocean's form.

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Francis Field, Jon Goodbun and Victoria Watson

Fig. 7 Diagram depicting the separation of the waters from the

waters during phase II of Ocean's development. (Francis Field)

Fig. 8 Diagram depicting the structural coupling of Ocean with its

environment, whence its autonomy is derived. (Francis Field)

If Ocean were to be constructed it would undoubtedly

rank among the most challenging and complex projects ever

undertaken by human civilisation, which is not to say that it

can't be done. Within the species relatively brief duration

on planet Earth, humans have repeatedly demonstrated an

exceptional ability to manipulate the environment towards

ends of a comparable magnitude to that of the Ocean project:

Stonehenge, the pyramids, and more recently the 1969 Moon

landing, are but a few examples. Once a common goal is

identied, its realisation has only ever been a matter of time.

The question now is whether, without some unifying religious

belief or political ideology, popular consciousness can again be

aligned towards such an ambitious goal?

In absence such strong currents in our society today,

the construction of Ocean will need to follow an alternative

channel, drawn from our present economic paradigm: a model

best exemplied by the 'grand scientic experiments' that

use increasingly large instruments to observe ever smaller

and more elusive quantities of matter. One such project is the

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER),

whose purpose is to investigate the possibilities of making

energy through nuclear fusion. ITER entails no less than the

harnessing of powerful atomic storms at the centre of stars

for use as a clean, unbounded energy source on Earth, and

aside from the strange morphological resonance between this

'Sun in a bottle' and 'Ocean in space' there are other aspects

worthy of comparison here. Currently ITER is funded through

an international consortium of 35 nations. The project is so

large it has invented its own unit of currency, the ITER Unit

of Account, in order to control nances over extended periods

of time. If Ocean is initially treated as a scientic experiment

of this order we imagine its funding structure would be of a

similar nature to ITER. As such, the success or failure of the

ITER project could pregure the feasibility of Ocean.

For both 'Sun in a bottle' and 'Ocean in space' use-value to

humans lies in the provision of a clean, easily accessible, and

abundant supply of fuel – the only difference is that one serves

Earth, and the other outer space. Since on the whole, humans

still inhabit Earth, it is relatively easy to justify spending on

ITER, but hard to nd funding for Ocean: this will continue

to be the case for some time. Until this point the processes

necessary to Ocean's construction ('ballistic asteroid capture'

and the relationship between microgravity and biological

systems etc.) will inevitably begin to be explored by private

companies towards commercial ends. Having expanded across

the surface of this planet, capitalism is looking to capture new

frontiers [16], both above (in space) and bellow (on the sea

oor), to sustain its growth. The project presented here has been

conceived within this ineffable process of commodication: the

space-time of Ocean begins here, with the capitalist model - but

this is not to say that the two will remain in sync. As we have

seen, the theatre of space is already underway and its actors

cast, however, as mathematician George Spencer-Brown once

suggested, "...there is really nothing to prevent us rewriting the

stage-directions." [17].

Until its realisation, Ocean will exist as a book containing

14 diagrams, 22 orthographic drawings, 2 perspectives, 8

plates (a selection of which are reproduced here (Figs. 10 &

11)) and a body of narrative text. These are the modes and

number of representational strategies necessary for Ocean to

be inferred in the mind of the reader. One problem with the

imagery of space inhabitation that we have today is that science

ction already does it better than architects ever could, so for

architecture to contribute positively to the adventure into space

it needs to discover, within its own discipline, a new means

of drawing. The representation of Ocean entails the use of

orthographic drawings, deploying the architectural conventions

of plan, section and elevation, rendered at international ISO

standard, A5. Although the size of the paper remains the same,

the objects depicted do not. To represent the restless ows of

energy and matter that embody Ocean it is necessary to depict

Ocean through shifting changes in scale (stepping in powers of

ten), rather than through the implied movement of the viewing

subject - as is so often the case when human activities are

depicted in space.

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Space-Time and Architecture

In all Ocean's drawings, the pages of the book are space-time,

and the ink Ocean's boundaries or distinctions. If the author had

been solely concerned with a more complete representation of

the space-time of Ocean, he would have included many more

pages and simply left most of them blank (Figs. 11 & 12): in the

interest of communication however, some marks were made to

divide up the pages into readable signs. The focus of this project

then, is with the question of how to represent the medium of

space-time in a manner that is conducive to the human creature's

being able to project its own potential actions into that medium,

i.e. to involve itself in the space-time of Ocean.

3. CONCLUSIONS

The human passage into space is inevitable, but the form it will

take is not. One thing we are certain of, the human body is in no

way capable of life in the vacuum of space, just as it is useless

underwater or in the air (Fig. 13). Despite the problematic of the

human body, human agents successfully managed to visit all of

these places even before they had the technological means to do

so. This ancient tradition, having always been essential to the

human condition, could now be described as 'going into space

without a rocket'. It is a procedure that all artists are aware of

because it is their task to forge the way and to help others to get

there too – a work of art being a carefully constructed space

vehicle of sorts.

In October 1960 Yves Klein leapt into the void (Fig. 14) and

claimed to have performed lunar travel. The following month

he published this statement:

"Today anyone who paints space must actually go into

space to paint, but he must go there without any faking,

and neither in an aeroplane, a parachute, or a rocket:

he must go there by his own means, by an autonomous,

individual force." [18]

Fig. 9 Even long before Ocean forms a

frozen surface it should be visible from

Earth as an aura around the Moon: various

optical effects will be produced by the

refractive properties of Ocean, these may

include complete rainbows, without horizon.

(Francis Field)

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Francis Field, Jon Goodbun and Victoria Watson

Figs. 10 Ocean was exhibited at the Royal College of Art in June 2014. Pages from the book 'Space ~ Time & Architecture' were enlarged

to ISO A3 and displayed alongside video extracts from DSI's 'promo' video, and Martin Lo in interview with Werner Herzog (for the lm

'Wild Blue Yonder' [2006]). Lo uses the analogy of the labyrinth to describe the Solar System as we understand it today. He describes the

leap in our understanding - from the Copernican model (with discrete isolated orbits), to the dynamic relational system we understand

today - as revolutionary. (Jack Hems)

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Space-Time and Architecture

Fig. 11 Two sections at differing scales depicting Ocean; one shows 'animal' like forms, the other intentionally left blank in acknowledgement

of Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle. Of course the page above is not itself completely blank, for it bares the necessary marks (registration

marks, key and scale bars) to frame 'blankness' within the self-referential network of the drawing series - much like the nal page of an

exam paper that bares the mark, [this page has been intentionally left blank]. From these examples we can infer the formal limit to all

modes of representation. To recognise any thing is to distinguish it from its environment, whereby it is at once perceived as a separate but

constituent part of the world, i.e. it is seen to be less than whole. A blank page too is always less than whole by virtue of the mark (whether

we take the mark to be a word, a frame, or simply the edges of the page) that distinguishes the page as blank to an observer. It is the form

of representation which ensures that the true nature of the world is always veiled from an external observer - a phenomenon perhaps to

which William Blake was alluding when he wrote, "Tho' obscured, this is the form of the Angelic land". What is remarkable, however, is

that the dividing line of the mark (section, frame, or otherwise) can be drawn in any place we choose, and although the fabric of reality

comprises a gause too ne to perceive, the topology of its veiling structure is resolutely manifest as the inverse of our potential actions

in the world. Here Heisenburg attempts at describing something similar: "The dividing line between the system to be observed and the

measuring apparatus is immediately dened by the nature of the problem but it obviously signies no discontinuity of the physical process.

For this reason there must, within limits, exist complete freedom in choosing the position of the dividing line". (Francis Field)

Fig. 12 The Ouroboros archetype rst surfaced in Ancient Egypt as

a gure symbolic of space-time. Ouroboros or 'tail eater' is depicted

in a state of constant growth and destruction. It is not static (as is

drawn), but a representation of the process of perpetual motion.

Its injunctive mode is like that of a blank page, or an Yves Klein

monochrome painting. As such, it is an example of a very early space

vehicle. (Theodoros Pelecanos)

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Francis Field, Jon Goodbun and Victoria Watson

Both Klein and Neil Armstrong have visited the Moon, the

key distinction between them however, is that they set off in

opposite directions. Klein was always going to get there rst

because, where Armstrong had some 384,400 km to travel

outwards, Klein found that he had only to travel inwards

into the space that he already occupied. Of course both men

were beaten by Newton (and numerous others before him),

who without even taking one small step in space, was able to

divine the laws of motion from mathematical principles, which

themselves, by denition, have no physical existence. This is

difcult to accept, so hard in-fact that we usually tell ourselves

that it was an apple that did it!

As far as this project has aligned itself with the market logic

of advanced capitalism in its radical trajectory, it equally has its

roots in Klein's space of pure sensuous perception. Both orders

of space have been equally valuable to this body of design-

based research. In conclusion then, it should be said that in

allowing one order of space to dominate another always comes

at a cost. The dominance of inner space, as Klein discovered,

leads necessarily to the dissolution of the individuated self (If

we examine Klein's utopia carefully we nd that in the end,

it contained no individuals). Allowing outer (or physical)

space to dominate quite naturally leads to the type of world

we usually describe as Western civilisation. Neither forms a

complete picture, and if we are really to escape the trappings of

Earth, both sides must be addressed, equally.

"In celebrating these great journeys into outer space,

we tend to overlook the colossal and equally heroic

journeys in the opposite direction undertaken, for the

occasion, by men such as Isaac Newton. Without the

extremely difcult, disciplined, and equally dangerous

journeys into inner space, no journey into outer space

could ever succeed." [19].

Fig. 13 An Apollo 16 astronaut falls on the Moon, 1972. (NASA)

Fig. 14 Le Saut dans le Vide (Leap into the Void), 1960.

(http://www.metmuseum.org)

1. The Department of Ontological Theatre (DOT) was founded by Jon

Goodbun and Victoria Watson in 2012 as a design research and teaching

studio at the Royal College of Art in London. We took the term 'Ontological

Theatre' from the historian and theorist Andrew Pickering, who coined

the term to describe a radical nomadic tendency within cybernetics (see

A. Pickering, "The Cybernetic Brain – Sketches of Another Future",

University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2010.[Book]). DOT

confronts the contradictions of the present – ecological, economic, social,

political, cultural, technological – through a strategic re-engagement

with specic moments in the history of architecture. Rather than starting

from surface level phenomena in the present, we will adopt a dialectical

approach, tracing those contradictions back in time, identifying earlier

dynamics. From here we stage Ontological Theatre: architectural

experiments into the nature of order, planning, design and technology, and

speculate about how we might think of matter, mind, social collectivity,

and ecological systems in the future.

2. Latin: 'qualis' – of what kind, of such a kind.

3. M. Cohen, et al, "Water Walls Architecture: Massively Redundant and

Highly Reliable Life Support for Long Duration Exploration Missions",

Citeseer, 2012.

4. The only project known to the authors that is in some way comparable to

REFERENCES

Ocean, is the 'Blue Star Human-Dolphin Space Colony' proposed by Doug

Michels in 1978. Blue Star is a toroidal spacecraft with a glass sphere at the

centre containing a body of water. The water sphere is inhabited by dolphins

who use sonar to operate the on-board super computer. The human-dolphin

community aboard the craft are tasked with making strategic and political

decisions concerning life on Earth (based on the premise that they would

have better ideas when liberated from the inuence of gravity). In Michels'

proposal, water is treated as a life support system for the dolphins rather

than as an end in itself. The ultimate purpose of Blue Star was to build

a relationship with dolphins, who at the time were thought (based on the

work of John Lilly) to be of comparable or higher intelligence to the human

species. Ocean is not a spacecraft and has no supporting infrastructure (at

least not of the mechanistic type), it is a site, and should be seen within the

tradition of world building. It is imagined that Ocean will support life and

provide a resource for the human colonisation of space, however, Ocean is

always discussed as a life form, in and of itself.

5. Here value is taken to mean the material or monetary worth.

6. http://deepspaceindustries.com/media/announcements. (Last Accessed

22th July 2014)

7. The Rosetta spacecraft was launched by the European Space Agency in

2004 to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A probe will

322-331.indd 330 1/19/2015 10:28:52 AM

331

Space-Time and Architecture

(Received 22 July 2014; Accepted 10 November 2014)

* * *

be sent from the robotic craft and is expected to land on the comet in

November 2014.

8. Planetary Resources is a rival asteroid mining company established

in 2010, see: http://www.planetaryresources.com. (Last Accessed 27

November 2014)

9. http://deepspaceindustries.com. (Last Accessed 22th July 2014)

10. The Interplanetary Superhighway (also referred to as the Interplanetary

Transport Network, ITN) was conceived as a practical application of the

work of 19th century mathematician Jules-Henri Poincaré. The power and

efciency of this new infrastructure was most elegantly demonstrated by

the manoeuvres performed by the ARTEMIS-P1 spacecraft during the

THEMIS mission (2010), as it transferred between the Lagrange Points

either side of the Moon.

11. For a recent proposal for L1 & L2, see the Exploration Gateway Platform

project developed by Boeing in 2011.

12. The halo orbit performed by the ARTEMIS-P1 spacecraft can be seen

at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/artemis/news/lunar-orbit.html#.

U850oPldWSo. (Last Accessed 22th July 2014)

13. The mean diameters stated here should serve only as an rough indication

of the scale of these asteroids. The irregular nature of asteroids in general,

combined with the limited data that has so far been collected means

that their precise form and composition is, one the whole, still largely

speculative. 617 Patroclus is in-fact a binary system composed of two

bodies, the smaller body, known as Menoetius, gives rise to the ofcial

designation (617) Patroclus I Menoetius. 624 Hektor is suspected to be a

'contact binary' (formed of two bodies, once distinct, that have partially

merged) and is now known to support a small moon.

14. This process may be assisted by the 'ballistic capture' of comets should

the opportunity arise. For a detailed case-study of this emerging technique

see Garcia Yarnoz, D. et al, "Easily Retrievable Objects Among the

NEO Population", Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy , 116,

pp.367-388, 2014.

15. The diameter of Enceladus is estimated to be 500 km. Due to its relatively

low density and high albedo (the capacity to reect the Sun's light) it is

suspected to contain a large volume of water. Recent photographs taken

by Cassini-Huygens spacecraft clearly show plumes of vapour erupting

from Enceladus' surface, which may indicate that sandwiched between a

rock core and frozen crust, is a liquid ocean.

16. See David Harvey's concept of 'spatial x' and the role of the frontier

in D. Harvey, "Spaces of Capital – Towards a Critical Geography",

Routledge, New York, 2001.

17. J.Keys, "Only Two Can Play This Game". Julian Press, First Edition,

pp.14, 1972.

18. Y.Klein, "Dimanche - Le Journal d'un Seul Jour", 1960.

19. J. Keys, "Only Two Can Play This Game". Julian Press, First Edition,

pp.136, 1972.

322-331.indd 331 1/19/2015 10:28:52 AM

... This taxonomy is used to shape a narrative of movement in weightlessness based on a video taken in the Cupola Module in ISS by NASA astronauts (NASA, 2016). Figure 2 shows Yves Klein's endeavor to grasp a notion of space in order to demonstrate it in his works of art (Goodbun et al., 2014). In a similar vein, to design for outer space, the designer needs to have an interpretation of the experience movement in microgravity. ...

  • Mosleh Ahmadi Mosleh Ahmadi

Based upon a combination of architectural theories, the knowledge of space environment, and psychology of isolated and confined environments, this qualitative research aims to study orbital space settlement in a way to get the built space congenial to the human experience of movement. In this sense, sensors, self-propulsion or mechanical actuators, the inhabitant's mental and visual capacity for movement, as well as the represented and imbedded movement in the built environment including pictorial representation, kinetic formation, and the movement of natural factors-are variables. So far, most of the studies on countermeasures for minimizing stress, which are stumbling blocks to the architectural promenade, have been based on pre-launch training focusing on professional training and selection of astronauts, planning for their in-flight challenges, and protecting them from dangers. Meanwhile, if we want to promote the experience of architecture in the outer space, narratives of movement need to be enriched, because not all occupants are professional astronauts. One way to study this matter is through analyzing movement in the built space and then synthesizing the results to gain an overview of a spatial montage in which motor planning for movement and route navigation have been facilitated. Narrative, in this sense, is a proper method to investigate this context of design. Therefore, analysis has been framed in the shape of a taxonomy

Tidal power is a renewable energy source that is environmentally friendly and has many advantages over traditional power supply that produces waste products. This macro-imagineering proposal is based on mesochronic tidal inequalities between Golfo San José and Golfo Nuevo, separated by the Florentino Ameghino Isthmus that connects the Area Natural Protegida Península Valdés with the mainland on the Argentine southeast coast in Chubut Province. Hypothetical construction of a canal or tunnel across the 6-8 km wide isthmus would allow a hydropower channeling turbine to take advantage of the M2 tidal amplitude differential between the two bays to produce electrical energy for the immediately adjacent region. Additional beneficiation of the site would accrue from eco-tourism associated with the commercial tidal-range electricity-generation macro-project that envisages terrestrial as well as submarine bio-site visitations by tourists. Properly conducted macro-imagineering projects such as this proposal offer multiple advantages to coastal sites such as this one near the famed Peninsula Valdés in Argentina. During 2021, the United Nations is embarking on a Decade of the Ocean. Resumo: As marés são fontes de energia renovável que não agridem o meio ambiente e apresentam muitas vantagens sobre as fontes tradicionais que geram resíduos. Esta proposta de macroimagenharia é baseada nas desigualdades mesocrônicas das marés entre o Golfo San José e o Golfo Nuevo, separadas pelo Istmo Florentino Ameghino que liga a Área Natural Protegida Península Valdés ao continente na costa sudeste da Argentina, província de Chubut. A construção hipotética de um canal ou túnel através do istmo de 6 a 8 km de largura permitiria que uma turbina de canalização hidrelétrica aproveitasse o diferencial de amplitude de maré M2 entre os dois golfos no intuito de produzir energia elétrica para a região imediatamente adjacente. Benefícios adicionais para o local seriam advindos do ecoturismo associado ao macroprojeto comercial de geração de eletricidade por faixa de maré, o qual prevê visitas a bio-sites terrestres e submarinos. Projetos de macroimagenharia adequadamente conduzidos, como a presente proposta, oferecem múltiplas vantagens para locais costeiros. Durante 2021, as Nações Unidas estão embarcando em uma Década do Oceano. Palavras-chave: Energia das marés, energia hidrelétrica, energia renovável, turbina de maré, fornecimento de hidroeletricidade, energia das barragens de marés, ecoturismo, tendas submarinas, parque marinho.

  • Joshua Vermillion Joshua Vermillion

One potential role for the architect of the future will be that of the digital craftsperson. Digital technology is allowing the designer to take control of and retool the entire design | fabrication | assembly process. With this new power, architects are crafting the digital tools and processes required to make architecture for the digital age. First, this thesis examines the notion of craft in the traditional way—how it has applied to architecture and building for most of history. This story recounts the architect's role in the designing and making of architecture, from the medieval master mason to the present-day architect. Craft, it is argued, is based on an understanding and skillful application of tools and processes as they relate to designing and making. The second part of this thesis applies this definition of craft to a new set of digital skills, tools, and processes. Digital craft is a combination of the skills of the architect, augmented by computers and computer-driven machines. Designing and making with digital tools is very dependent on a feedback loop driven process centered around a digital master model, into which, design information and data is input, and direct fabrication information and representation is output. The third part of this thesis describes the digital craftsperson through three case studies. The first case study recounts the process of digital tool-making. The second, describes the development of innovative fabrication and assembly techniques using digital tools and unconventional materials. The last case study recounts the design and fabrication process of a full-scale prototype by the author and a team of students.

  • Rachel Armstrong Rachel Armstrong

This chapter explores how the thinking and exploration of ideas and ambitions shape the approaches adopted in space exploration and the construction of habitats.

  • Ikemefuna James Udeh Ikemefuna James Udeh
  • Ugwu O.C
  • Onoh G.N

In wireless communications signal fading is the deviation or the attenuation that a carrier modulated telecommunication signal experiences over a certain propagation media. This paper presents using frequency diversity technique in reduction of signal fading on wireless communication network in Nigeria. It is also to note that fading may vary with time, geographical position or radio frequency and it is often modeled as radom process. In this paper, frequency diversity technique was adopted and has been found to be suitable for reducing signal fading but has to do so to the extend of about 90% in digital communication.

  • Daniel Garcia Yarnoz
  • Joan-Pau Sánchez Joan-Pau Sánchez
  • C.R. McInnes

Asteroids and comets are of strategic importance for science in an effort to understand the formation, evolution and composition of the Solar System. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are of particular interest because of their accessibility from Earth, but also because of their speculated wealth of material resources. The exploitation of these resources has long been discussed as a means to lower the cost of future space endeavours. In this paper, we consider the currently known NEO population and define a family of so-called Easily Retrievable Objects (EROs), objects that can be transported from accessible heliocentric orbits into the Earth's neighbourhood at affordable costs. The asteroid retrieval transfers are sought from the continuum of low energy transfers enabled by the dynamics of invariant manifolds; specifically, the retrieval transfers target planar, vertical Lyapunov and halo orbit families associated with the collinear equilibrium points of the Sun-Earth Circular Restricted Three Body problem. The judicious use of these dynamical features provides the best opportunity to find extremely low energy Earth transfers for asteroid material. A catalogue of asteroid retrieval candidates is then presented. Despite the highly incomplete census of very small asteroids, the ERO catalogue can already be populated with 12 different objects retrievable with less than 500 m/s of Δ v. Moreover, the approach proposed represents a robust search and ranking methodology for future retrieval candidates that can be automatically applied to the growing survey of NEOs.

This process may be assisted by the 'ballistic capture' of comets should the opportunity arise. For a detailed case-study of this emerging technique see Garcia Yarnoz, D. et al

This process may be assisted by the 'ballistic capture' of comets should the opportunity arise. For a detailed case-study of this emerging technique see Garcia Yarnoz, D. et al, "Easily Retrievable Objects Among the NEO Population", Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 116, pp.367-388, 2014.

Only Two Can Play This Game

  • J Keys

J. Keys, "Only Two Can Play This Game". Julian Press, First Edition, pp.136, 1972.