Assignment 1A was to find some images of space colonization. Let's begin.
Moon Colony
I found this image here: http://powerforce.moo.jp/page184.html
Unfortunately, my Japanese isn't good enough to make out more than some of the titles in Katakana (my kanji is lacking). I wish I could tell you the artist's name. I like the distortion created by the dome. A very recent, cold rendition.
As David Bowie sang about sailors fighting on the dance floor, he asked, is there life on Mars?
Mars ColonySource: http://www.marssociety.org/
Ah. Space colonization as the equivalent to trailers scattered across the Mojave Desert! I CAN FEEL THE SIREN SONG! BOOK NOW FOR YOUR RED DIRT FARM VACATION! YOU, TOO, CAN LIVE IN AN INFLATED CLEAR PLASTIC NURSING SOW!
I would attribute this image to the late 1980s by the cut of the space suit. It's a very practical view: survival reliant upon self-sufficient pods. My question is, why would people travel all that way just to survive?
Cover, NSS 2008 Space Settlement Calendar (sold out)
Although the focus of this work is on a "halo"-style environment, I really liked the human touches which I feel a colony will need to survive. People like changes of scenery, we like things to be scaled appropriately for our viewing pace. A colony of 10,000 people won't have Chicago or LA-scaled buildings and avenues. Transportation will be a defining aspect. Will a small colony rely upon solar scooters of some sort? Can a small colony afford the expenditure of materials and resources for individual transportation, or rely on efficient mass transit?
These questions will, ultimately, define livable spaces. If everything is too overscaled and institutional, people won't feel comfortable there.
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