Architecture in Extreme Space Climates |
Architecture in the vacuum of outer space, as we know it, is necessarily an architecture of an extreme climate. Space provides no breathable atmosphere, coupled with fatally low temperatures, making a sound and all-encompassing architecture absolutely necessary for sustaining life. This aspect of architecture in space is acknowledged in "Polis Massa," in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Polis Massa is an artificially sustained settlement on a remote airless asteroid. This depiction of life in space recalls the imagery of isolation used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. |
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The airless asteroid settlement of Polis Massa |
More frequently, the imaginary environments of outer space are exotic and fantastic, and often are presented as the extreme of an existing condition on earth. The planet "Mustafar" in Revenge of the Sith is a volcanic planet, the amplification of volcanic conditions on earth. |
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Settlement on Mustafar defies the harsh climate with architecture projecting out over the lava |
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The funeral scene on Naboo recalls an extreme of Venice with bridges, canals |
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Final Term Project - ARCH 443: Architecture and Film - Zero Gravity in Film - Fall 2005 - Emily Maemura