14 DAY TRIAL // The Imperial College London (ICL) and the Royal College of Art (RCA) jointly own the Masters degree in Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) that numerous students attend. This year, as part of a project they had to complete for their degree, the youngsters envisioned a space hotel, which could be built in space, and attached directly to the International Space Station (ISS). The 12-meter replica of the future space hotel was presented by the students on June 26, ScienceDaily reports.
Designing such a construct was naturally very complex; so, its creators enlisted the help of space architecture expert Daniele Bedini, a visiting lecturer at the universities, who worked together with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) on designing future manned outposts on the Moon and Mars. Creating buildings and structure for use outside of the planet is not an easy task, as even the most basic knowledge you learn in architecture school gets twisted and turned on its head.
“Designing a building that is floating hundreds of miles above Earth throws up all kinds of engineering challenges. From personal hygiene to sleeping in zero gravity, we encouraged the students to be completely creative with their solutions so that the living conditions in the world’s most isolated hotel could be as comfortable as possible,” Bedini says. Among the most interesting innovations, he adds, is a shower that is able to spray water only when pressed against the skin, and to suck it up afterwards, so as to avoid leaving it floating around as globules.
One of the least thought-of aspects of a space visit is clothing, especially ones that allow the body to breathe, and minimize the need for washing. “There are no washing machines or tumble dryers in space so we had to design clothes that enabled the skin to breathe, which reduces sweating, smells and the need for clothes to be washed. We achieved this by using natural fibers that breathe and we also made small chest flaps, which let the air in to keep the body cool and comfortable,” explains student Katrin Baumgarten, who was in charge of developing clothes for future space tourists at the ISS hotel.
The IDE students also created innovative sleeping bags, that are able to hold the body of a potential space tourist in a designated place, without making that person feel trapped and claustrophobic. They way they achieved that was by creating large warm cocoons, both in single and double versions, dressed in soft, elastic covers, which do not give the impression they are cumbersome. It remains to be seen how their project will be received by critics, and, most importantly, their teachers.