As humanity prepares for long-term lunar habitation, the design of extraterrestrial habitats must evolve beyond functional efficiency to prioritize human well-being. The bulk of existing space architecture research focuses on optimization and safety, resulting in rigid, standardized environments that overlook consideration for psychosocial needs. This research explores how user-defined spaces based on human-centric design principles can create a heterogeneous lunar habitat that balances social interaction and private boundaries, to foster the psychosocial well-being of long-term living in an isolated environment.

The project departs from examining human behaviour living in an isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environment, drawing insights from analogue missions, space station precedents, lunar surface expeditions, and related experiences – through which one of the leading causes of frustration is found: lack of variation in privacy. By extrapolating the research into personas and activity-based design, this project set design parameters to support social integration while preserving personal space. A key objective is to create distinct transitions between functional spaces, allowing different social interactions to occur, thereby catering to the inhabitants’ personal preferences and social dynamics.

The research employs computational design methods to explore possible spatial configurations, integrating In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and component-based construction for scalability and adaptability. A bottom-up design approach ensures that user needs, activities, and interactions drive spatial organization, with activity-based design shaping program distribution and form optimization. The project also speculates on future construction methods, combining robotic assembly and mass customization for efficient yet personalized environments.

By shifting the focus from purely functional to humanized lunar habitation, this research contributes a novel architectural approach that enhances astronaut well-being. The findings offer valuable insights not only for lunar bases but also for terrestrial architecture in extreme environments, redefining how spatial design can support interaction and individuality within isolated habitats.
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With the start of the Artemis project, the creation of a permanent Lunar base has been set as a goal, which has made it relevant to explore and consider all aspects of this new form of architecture, which will require a whole new set of criteria adapted to this unfamiliar Lunar landscape. Due to the dangerous conditions out on the surface, any long-term settlers will be mostly confined to the Moon base, with only their fellow crew members to interact with. This will have a great impact on their mental wellness. Research has identified nearly 70 stressors created by space travel, ranging from the real possibility of dying to boredom and from crew tension to isolation. Even looking out the window will not show the varying blue and green views we are used to, but a colourless, rocky landscape similar to a black and white photograph. Solace will need to be found within the habitat itself. MoonSane will investigate how human spatial perception can be used in the design of Lunar habitats, to mitigate the negative mental health effects of living long-term on the moon.
Through various studies, it has already been established that architectural spaces can influence human emotion and mental wellbeing. On the Moon, these psychological aspects of architecture will be even more important and must be utilised. Various spatial interventions, that have been proven to positively impact the mental health of inhabitants/users, are combined into a fully functional Lunar habitat. The interventions include dynamic lighting, spatial geometry and permeability as well as internal and external views. They will be implemented into a small scale Lunar base for a crew of 6 people. A meditation space is added to the general program of requirement, that utilises a phenomenon called the Overview Effect; viewing the Earth from space can have a positive emotional impact. All the architectural interventions are integrated with the safety requirements of a Lunar base, considering radiation, a life support system and adequate construction strategies, based on a stacked component system with in-situ resource utilisation principles. ... Read more

This research explores the concept of a climbing-based lunar habitat as an alternative to conventional static environments, focusing on human body interaction in reduced gravity. Inspired by the natural formations of lunar lava tubes, the project investigates how irregular, vertical, and multi-directional surfaces can redefine movements and spatial engagement in extraterrestrial architecture. By studying the ergonomics of movement in low gravity, including climbing, hopping, and other dynamic body coordination, the research challenges the sedentary work-life paradigm commonly found in on-Earth architecture. A key aspect of the study is the relationship between human movement and architectural form, informed by both computational design and material exploration. Comparative analysis of terrestrial lava tubes and human adaptability in extreme environments provides insights into spatial design strategies for lunar habitation. Additionally, fabrication method such as 3D printing is explored to develop construction techniques suited for lunar materials.

Ultimately, this project aims to create a playscape-inspired habitat that not only supports basic functions of survival, but also enhances physical and psychological well-being through active engagement with the built environment. ... Read more

This paper proposes a novel framework that combines both planning and learning-based trajectory generation methods to handle complex robotic assembly tasks. The framework utilizes MoveIt! for planning large-scale reaching motions and Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMPs) for precise grasping and placing movements, with both methods integrated into a single system controlled by a behavior tree. An impedance controller is employed to ensure smooth and safe execution of the generated trajectories, particularly in scenarios that involve human interaction.

The proposed framework was evaluated within the context of the European Space Agency-funded Rhizome project, which focuses on off-earth habitat construction. The project involves assembling habitats using custom-designed Voronoi-shaped building blocks, which were also utilized in experiments to test the framework. The results showed that combining planning for large-reaching motions with DMPs for detailed movements effectively addressed the limitations of each individual method, delivering a flexible and robust solution to the challenges of robotic assembly. ... Read more

Hospitals fulfill an important function within the healthcare systems, providing complex and specialized care. Healthcare continues to evolve into more effective forms of care and thus benefiting those in need. While care changes the physical hospital rarely does, resulting in hospital architecture which leaks the quality to contribute to and improve the users wellbeing. This design thesis explores a large scale architectural intervention strategy that improves the hospital architecture of the AMC Amsterdam through means parametric and computational design. The intervention focuses on spatial redistribution of function based on trends and innovations in healthcare. Resulting in vacant space available for spatial interventions. In order to increase wellbeing the intervention focusses on the themes of nature, exercises, sight and daylight. Creating an biophilic experiential structure that connects vertically and horizontally on the various floors. Enabling patients to move, stay and experience the intervention each on their own manner, while simultaneously creating an healing environment that improves patients wellbeing. ... Read more

In a quest to breathe new life into public spaces and engage with its today’s increasingly (inter-)connected users, robotic architectural components seem to open up possibilities to give agency to building component. A new field of research has been involving multi-agent robotic systems in the architectural design and/or fabrication process. They require a new understand the built environment as an “adaptive ecology” composed of autonomous agents that interact with each other and their nearby environment (users and context). I am proposing the examination of a multi-agent system composed of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) that can collaborate together to self-assemble into structures that are user-interactive and responsive to the local climate conditions. These structures are composed of a many of these ‘drone-bricks’ that form shelters that can grow and morph to accommodate users’ changing positions and movements through time. They are able to modulate environmental conditions such as wind and rain shelters, daylight penetration and the acoustic resonance of the space. This architecture is directly informed by the users’ activities, environmental conditions, and other information flows. It relies on principles of emergence, indeterminacy and generative design. This architecture has no blueprint but is self-organising; it is processual, indeterminate and continuously in formation, as opposed to the dominance of static, predetermined forms and functions in the organisation of the environment today. How to translate these architectural intents (performative and qualitative metrics) to a swarm of UAVs in an attempt to create a robotic architectural ‘species’ where autonomous agents collaborate to form temporary shelters that respond to local environmental conditions and human interactions? The research, simulation and prototyping rely on a behavioural and praxiological approach to architectural design that establishes a feedback loop between the algorithmically-encoded robotic capacities (behaviours), the material properties (morphogenetic processes) and sensing capabilities (neurological processes) of the agents and the emergent interactions and their self-organization in the environment in real-time. This project attempts to look at the ways these behaviours are digitally coded and physically expressed, as well as evaluate the overall agency granted to the system through the implementation of these behaviours with the overarching aim of developing new relationships between space and users through multi-agent robotic systems. ... Read more