Space Design
for New
Human Beings

THE ROLE OF DESIGN IN THE FUTURE OF SPACE TRAVEL AND SETTLEMENT BETWEEN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND BEAUTY.
WHY MICROALGAE ON THE MOON AND DISABILITY IN MICROGRAVITY ARE PILLARS TO INCREASE SUSTAINABILITY AND INCLUSION VALUES.

The exhibition collects the projects of “Space4InspirAction”, the research laboratory led by Annalisa Dominoni and Benedetto Quaquaro at the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano which generated the 1st and unique course of space architecture and design with the partnership of the European Space Agency (ESA) at the School of Design, MSc Integrated Product Design, Politecnico di Milano.

The projects concern two design topics according to the strategic programs for interplanetary human exploration that underline the strategic role of design for sustainability and inclusion:

Microalgae on the moon
Design of structures and tools to facilitate production, growth and transformation of spirulina algae, the food of the future, on the surface of the Moon.

Disability in microgravity
Design of new prosthetic objects for both astronauts and “parastronauts” to boost performances onboard the International Space Station, considering prostheses as "extensions" of motor skills, which, in microgravity conditions, undergo strong alterations compromising stability and movement.

Both projects we have developed and now present in the exhibition are supported during the design process by:

European Space Agency for
the speciﬁc and scientiﬁc knowledge
in the field of space design.

Private company specialized in the production of spirulina algae that provided us with technological knowledge.

Non-proﬁt lab of technological and social inclusion research that uses co-design methods to merge design and people’s needs with disabilities.

WHY SPACE DESIGN?

The space, today and in the near future, will have a decisive inﬂuence on the daily life, behaviours and performances of people, and consequently, on the capability of private companies to innovate, thanks to the contribution of design. “Going to space” becomes the new aspirational dream.

Design is visionary, design is innovation, and acts as a "bridge" between science and beauty, keeping people's needs at the centre, with the aim of increasing the well-being looking for functionality towards inclusion.
Soon, not only professional astronauts will go to space, but space tourists too, and they will need a higher level of comfort. People want to live the dream, and the role of design is to give shape to it, through an extraordinary experience.

LIVING IN SPACE: A CHALLENGE OR A STYLE?

The distinction between living in space or on Earth is the absence of gravity. Microgravity affects body posture, behaviours and relationships between people, the objects with which they interact, the environment. Rather than a "style" we should speak of a “space life that will be characterized by diﬀerent gravity conditions”.

It takes an extraordinary ability to predict what we have encoded in a speciﬁc methodology called Use & Gesture Design (UGD) through which it maust be designed the environment, the object and the use scheme of it. The challenge, for us, is to transform extreme environmental conditions from a limit to an opportunity, and then to design environments and objects that take advantage of microgravity. The task of designers who want to design for space is to develop the ability to imagine how to live and move in conﬁned environments like the space.