Let's all move to Mars! The space architects shaping our future
We've had starchitects. Now we've got space architects. Oliver Wainwright meets the people measuring up the red planet for inflatable homes and farms made of moondust concrete
Fifty years from now, says Brent Sherwood, there will be a different kind of honeymoon on offer. "Imagine a hotel with a view that's changing all the time," says the Nasa space architect, "where there are 18 sunrises and sunsets every day, where food floats effortlessly into your mouth - and where you can have zero-gravity sex. Who wouldn't sign up for that?"
Born the same year as Nasa, 1958, Sherwood trained as an architect and aerospace engineer. Having spent the past 25 years working on plans for everything from orbital cities to planetary settlements, he is convinced it's only a matter of time before space travel becomes a regular holiday option and we're living and working on the moon. There's only one drawback. "Nobody knows how to cook in space," he says. "Until you can mix a martini or make an omelette, you can't have a space hotel. No one is going to pay $1m a night and put up with microwave meals."
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It would cost $500,000 to send a single brick to the moon
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