The final cut

Woohee, it's been a fun quarter. I kind of feel like we just got started, just got rolling- and on a project this size, two months IS just getting started. I seriously hope that this is just the beginning. That these ideas will disperse and propogate in other hosts who are so inclined. That's why it's a "viral" project.

We analyzed so many aspects of life and how we, as architecture students*, can help it Not Suck.

We learned about hydroponics - did you know that it takes about 57 cubic meters of efficient hydroponics focusing on high- leaf crops to produce enough oxygen for a person?

We learned about space travel - did you know that astronauts have to pre-breathe oxygen for 6 hours before taking the half-hour to get into their suit to go on a space walk in order to prevent the bends?

We learned about the moon- did you know that breathing regolith, the lunar dust, may lead to lung complications as it's shardlike, like fiber glass?

We thought about psychology, sociology, recycling systems, organizing space, landscape.

Oh, and my Photoshop skills certainly increased.

Can I fail so's I can go again?

Final images

Rendering intents

What's it like?

Here's a view of the greenspace/water reclamation area with long, low hydroponic bays behind. (They're plaid.) Things to keep in mind: there's no soil. Outdoor plantings will need to survuve with minimal root systems, and facilitate water recycling and filtration.

In the foreground is a "tree sculpture". We can't have oaks and maples, but we can have interesting planters that offer a lot of nooks and crannies to contain small succulents, ferns, ivy, strawberries, etc. Preferably edible. (Although, without pollinators like bees, flies and wind, actually getting fruit would be another story. Fiddlehead salad, anyone?)

In the background, you can see a ramp to the "highway", or base of the dome wall. Here, people can walk and look out over the moonscape, or vehicles can have a smooth surface in order to get around to more remote areas of the dome.

New Communities and their Biomes

We will show further description of each community in a future post.



The Beginning of the combination and network of biomes. Biomes intersect or are located within a different community. Each biome bleeds into the outer areas of the communities, forming a "wilder" are for centralized scientific observation.

Biomes of dome's Biosphere

Process: Using the concept of our planet's biomes and how the influence our climate (or vice versa: I'm no scientist) the arrangement of various environments will be arranged on the dome.

PROBLEM!!!: Because the dome is in the moon, there are many factors that even with human design will not equal the environment of earth: we need to figure out what the environments will be like--> If we consider the desert, well just as the moon is, them what will be a grassland (Probability of not that type of vegetation) Then what can replace it, or more likely mimic or relate to it.

Midterm!