Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has brought its Moon Village vision to the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Developed in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), the installation will showcase SOM and ESA’s proposal for a new type of space architecture, a sustainable ecosystem that will support a human presence on the Moon in the decades to come.
Life Beyond Earth, located at the Corderie within the Arsenale complex, encompasses two large scale, physical models and a film that together brings Biennale visitors on a journey from Earth to the Moon’s surface. Close-up details of an individual habitat module enable visitors to imagine everyday life in the Moon Village and understand the engineering and technology that enable its design.
The installation results from an international, multidisciplinary initiative launched by ESA to explore the potential for inhabited environments on the Moon. Expanding the territory of architecture, the project inspires visitors to envision future societies in new environments and to confront the challenges for sustaining human life in the extreme conditions of outer space.
Hashim Sarkis curated Biennale Architettura 2021, and Life Beyond Earth offers a powerful message for a world still affected by the Covid-19 pandemic; a reaffirmation of the importance of space and its benefits for all societies. At the same time, it illuminates how space habitation research provides insights into human coexistence and resource utilisation that can also be applied to problems on earth.
Life Beyond Earth represents a paradigm shift in space architecture and offers insights discovered through international cross-sector cooperation. The challenges confronted here inspired new solutions and enabled us to envision a future for humanity beyond Earth.
Daniel Inocente, Senior Designer, SOM