Two Cal Poly architecture students were recognized in an article published by CNN on Nov. 18 for being finalists in the 2010 SHIFTboston Moon Capital design competition.
Architecture seniors Brian Harms and Keith Bradley worked together on their submission for the international competition, which called for innovative designs for a lunar habitat which could survive the unusual environment on the moon and explore its potential resources.
“We really wanted to push the limits with this design,” Harms said. “It was a unique premise and we had more freedom with this design than with school projects.”
Harms and Bradley had never worked together on any kind of design project, but Harms said they were both excited about the idea of space design.
Bradley said he and Harms began working on their digital design in August and submitted it on Sept. 21.
SHIFTboston is a design initiative in Boston that gathers, encourages and works to carry out revolutionary design ideas to make the city of Boston more dynamic and environmentally friendly, according to the company’s website. They hold competitions like the Moon Capital competition to challenge architects and designers to come up with creative designs. However, executive director Kim Poliquin said the Moon Capital competition was completely different from any of SHIFTboston’s design competitions.
“The idea behind this competition was education and inspiration,” Poliquin said. “I wanted to give people an understanding of how you would build in this environment — it’s a wonderful start for something new.”
Harms and Bradley called their design a Stadium for International Lunar Olympics (SILO) and planned for it to be built inside a lunar crater. Harms said building the stadium inside of a crater provided the potential for microgravity sports and an Olympic stadium design symbolized the idea of a neutral playing ground for the world.
The stadium’s design also included unique attributes that Harms and Bradley said were necessary for a structure in an environment like the moon. The stadium’s roof has a covering that is almost completely flat, which Bradley said wouldn’t be structurally possible on Earth, and has a tower with rooms similar to a hotel to provide life support and administration for inhabitants.
“We were pretty gung-ho about the potential of the idea from the start,” Harms said.
The Moon Capital design competition has two design categories — a “Let’s Get Serious” category for more realistic designs and a “Let’s Have Fun” category for more creative designs. Harms said the SILO design was in the “Let’s Have Fun” category, a phrase which represented his and Bradley’s mentality as they worked on the project.
Harms and Bradley received emails in the beginning of October about being finalists in the contest, and were invited to an awards ceremony in Boston where they presented their design. Harms said the SILO design was one of nine finalist designs of more than 100 submissions from across country.
Architecture department head and professor Henri de Hahn said when Harms and Bradley informed him about the success of their design, he was glad to offer to have the department pay their travel expenses to attend the awards ceremony in Boston on Oct. 21.
“I’m absolutely delighted that this is of national interest,” de Hahn said. “Their design was provocative and inspiring, and I’m pleased they continue to show the excellence of our program.”
Harms and Bradley also received support from their department on some last-minute design details. Architecture emeritus professor Donna Duerk said she talked with Harms and Bradley a few days before they left for Boston about what their project might be missing so they could still mention it when presenting their design. Duerk said she thought the SILO design was very fanciful, and creativity was the point of the competition.
“The design was beautiful architecturally,” Duerk said. “There were a few technical problems, but that was true of all the projects. I’m quite proud and I wish I could have been involved from the beginning.”
Poliquin said she believes the ideas already out there for space architecture are boring compared to the Moon Capital competition submissions she saw. The SILO design was visually amazing, Poliquin said, and even though it did receive some critique, the jury was very impressed.
A few weeks after the awards ceremony, Harms and Bradley were also contacted and interviewed by CNN for an article about the competition called “Imagine a Moon Base in 2069,” according to Harms.
Bradley said the competition’s jury was split between architects and NASA scientists, and the submissions ranged from very practical to very theoretical.
Though the Moon Capital design competition was geared toward designs which could be realized by 2069, Harms said he and Bradley weren’t aiming for that date with their design.
“Our design made assumptions about the future, and I think that was pretty obvious,” Harms said.
Bradley said he believes if the country’s progress continues at the current rate, the moon will be eventually colonized.
“The first time this kind of thing happened it was because JFK said: ‘We will go to the moon by 1969,’ and now it’s all about the economy,” Bradley said. “Something like this has to be about the nation coming together.”
Poliquin said she believes some of the designs submitted to the Moon Capital competition could actually happen in the future, but it comes down to money and the willingness of world leaders to pursue it.
Harms said the competition was exciting and he would consider doing it again.
“I think we work well together — we moderate each other’s ideas,” Bradley said. “I think we’d be willing to work together again, even if it’s not for a competition.”