Extra-/Terrestrial Architecture Graduation Studio

Extra-/ Terrestrial Architecture is concerned with the development of building design to construction and operation approaches by transferring advanced technologies from terrestrial to extraterrestrial applications and vice versa.

Mirroring the interdisciplinary nature of space colonization projects where architects, roboticists, and space scientists work together to achieve common goals, this new interfaculty graduation course, Lunar Architecture and Infrastructure (LA&I), is designed to foster collaboration among students from various faculties. It is open to all graduating TU Delft students interested in addressing challenges of space colonization with Architecture students specifically focusing on developing a multi-functional habitat using Design-to-Robotic-Production-Assembly and -Operation (D2RPA&O) methods. In this context, computational design (integrating generative form finding with various optimization routines) and robotic building construction and operation are heavily relying on In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and to a large degree automation.

The workflow involves the use of various Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human/ Robot-Robot-Interaction (H/ RRI) supported computational and robotic processes that fundamentally change the architectural project, which increasingly emerges from human and non-human interaction. In this context, the H/ RRI-supported D2RPA&O process is implemented by Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE) students in collaboration with students and tutors from Mechanical Engineering (ME), Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS), and Aerospace Engineering (AE). For instance, ABE students develop habitat designs, while ME and EEMCS students develop robots for constructing the habitat, and AE energy generation systems for constructing and operating the habitat.