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PRODUCT DESIGN
PROJECT: HAB 1
Starship Habitation Unit: Layout, Programming, & Products
PROJECT MISSIONS:
EXPLORE: Explore various layouts, configurations, and programing for Starship. Identify issues and think about solutions.
CREATE: Create the environment. Build prototypes, models, displays, and graphics that represent previous explorations.
INSPIRE: Inspire with an experience. Display previous creations by evolving the audience. Create a story that can be imagined by others.
PROSPER: Further inspire myself and others to pursue missions that push humanity forward. Viciously pursue a prosperous future.
EXPLORATIONS
Sketches
I started my explorations for this project with sketches. Sketches allow me the freedom to conjure any aspect of my imagination and bring it into reality. Some sketches are thoughtful, some are freeform, and some are ridiculous. All are important in the design process, especially in the beginning. Through this process, I discovered the foundations of the layout and products that create the habitation unit (HAB) within Starship.
Research
In conjunction with producing initial sketches, research helped me focus on issues currently experienced in space. Astronaut interviews and accounts made it obvious that private spaces and sleeping quarters need to be improved for long duration missions in space. I chose to focus my project on these sacred spaces to help develop solutions for future astronauts. Personal living spaces or "habitations" must be designed to create a more inviting living environment.
CREATIONS
Early Prototypes
Low fidelity prototypes are highly beneficial to the creative design process. Form allows the hand to speak to the mind. These are quick, dirty, but valuable. These early prototypes helped me set a course for more refined design choices. The Hab layout, bed, and doorway were seeded in these objects.
Hab Layout
After many considerations, I chose to create a layout for an 8 person crew on board Starship. The interior space for astronauts was broken down into five separate decks. The spatial programming of the ship will be mission specific. Besides the Hab deck, other decks were designed as a creative placeholder for now. The crew habitation deck, located here, was my main focus of the project.
TOP VIEW OF HAB DECK
An octagonal design was based on the crew size. This angular separation of habitation units maximizes space for the crew. The angular design and circular shape of Starship creates pockets around the hull where life support systems can be hidden from view.
SECTION CUT OF HAB DECK
Each habitation unit provides 55 square feet of living space for each astronaut. While in space, volume is more important than area. While in zero gravity transit to the Moon or Mars, every surface will be available to the astronaut. The objects and products that fill the interior of these spaces were designed to be adaptable for the various gravitic conditions that the astronauts will experince.
Portals
Transition doorways or portals to different rooms and decks are vital in the programming of the ship. Each separation portal can be used to communicate that someone wants privacy or if they are open to socialization. Non-verbal ques should indicate what the person wants and can be adjusted as there mood changes. For the habitation unit portal, I wansted to create a system that is elagent, fun, and useful in all gravity environments.
The Bed
The bed in space is abundant with opportunities. This digital prototype displays the modular function of the bed and the different configurations it can be placed in. The Hab unit is vertically spacious with 10' ceilings. The bed would compliment it's verticality by sliding up and out of the way when not used.
SLEEP POSITION
SLEEP POSITION
STORAGE
STOW AWAY POSITION
Functional Prototypes
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
If you are currently visiting the exhibit, please use and operate the portal and sit on the bed. Im may take a picture of you using it for documentation of this page.
More to Come...
INSPIRE
Model Display
To help create a vision of life in space, I wanted to create a model and display table that transports the audience into their imagination. I want the viewers to build upon the designs I provide by placing themselves inside this world. The model table was designed to match Space X's style and feel.
Exhibit in Progress
More pictures to follow
Full Scale Concept Model: Hab 1
I felt it was important to create a full scale mockup of the Hab unit for my project. The information I gain from a full scale model is more that any digital or scale model provides. Physical immersion shows the obvious obstacles and highlights what really needs to be flushed out.
To inspire visitors to the exhibit, I created a physical and graphical showcase of what could be. The exhibit is just a representation of possible designs and is not meant to be "the answer" to habitation in space. My hope is that people will identify what they would want, need, and desire in this personal space.
Exhibit in Progress
More pictures to follow
PROSPER
A Living Project
Through this project, I have learned that designing for life in space will need teams of people from all types of backgrounds. Proper design choices and considerations will take far longer that a college semester. After college, this project will serve as Iteration One. My hope and dream is to work with private space companies like Space X to help develop the human world inside the vehicles they create. It is my passion and goal to promote human exploration of space with the ultimate goal of interplanetary colonization.
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