Architecture beyond the planet Earth. Inhabit Mars

Exactly one year ago, in January 2020, I invited Vittorio Netti to give a lecture, entitled Space Architecture. Living beyond the borders of the planet, at my Design Laboratory IV. Given the great interest and success of the presentation, and considering the many points in common with my personal research, I decided to inaugurate a new season of design studies and research on the theme of spatial architecture. The very first opportunity to undertake studies was born with the idea of starting a group degree thesis, in March 2020, with the homonymous title Space Architecture focused on the theoretical / practical relationship of the design of living and working spaces that relate to each other. with an uninhabited environment, in this case the Martian one. Space Architecture is an intrinsically multi and multidisciplinary research field, and is part of Extreme Environment Architecture (i.e. a branch of architecture that studies the techniques and methods to allow human life in hostile and uninhabitable places: ocean abysses , terrestrial poles, desert areas, etc.) dealing with the design dyad concerning both Orbital Architecture and Planetary Architecture. The first deals with human life in space orbit while the second deals with human life on stable planetary bases. Configuring itself as a specific discipline requiring adequate academic skills, a MoU was signed in July 2020 between our Politecnico and SICSA – SASAKAWA INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SPACE ARCHITECTURE of Houston University – which allowed Vittorio Netti, SICSA Graduate Resercher, to be officially co-supervisor of theses within the framework of the academic agreements between the two institutions. The teaching staff of the entire degree thesis is made up of professors Annalinda Neglia, Vincenzo Desimone, Nicola Parisi (final synthesis and internship), Vincenzo Simeone, Pietro Stefanizzi and Nicola Scardigno (disciplinary contributions) who have contributed to better develop the global work research and project. I thank all the teachers for having carried out a serious and highly enriching work despite the condition imposed by the DaD, due to the pandemic risk of Covid 19, which has necessarily eliminated the very important phase of revision in the presence in which the topics covered take on a greater value. pregnant in the relationship between teacher and learner. As the Latins used to say, Per aspera ad astra, despite or through the asperities [we reach] the stars, it is precisely the case that the present degree thesis, the very first to carry out its entire academic process at a distance, despite all the asperities due to confinement and the implicit difficulty inherent in the new and not at all consolidated topic in Italian literature, and little in foreign literature, has managed, to my great satisfaction, to reach the stars, figuratively, and specifically on Mars with a project titled Hive Mars. (Giuseppe Fallacara, Introduction)

Giuseppe Fallacara
(Bitonto – Bari, 17 December 1973) is an Architect and PhD. From 1 April 2020 he is Full Professor in Architectural Composition at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the Polytechnic of Bari, where he directs the New Fundamentals Research Group. He is the coordinator of the CESAR, Higher Applied Education Course in Architecture and Restoration of the School of Specialization of the Polytechnic of Bari. Expert in Stereotomy and stone architecture, he has published numerous monographs and scientific articles on the subject and has created experimental lithic prototypes. He has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2006 and annually, since 2005, at the Marmomac in Verona, in the University and Research sector. He was visiting professor, among other universities, at NYIT (New York Institute of Technology) and MISIS (National University of Science and Technology) in Moscow. He was curator of the Stereotomz 2.0 and Digital Construction Tools exhibition (New York, May 2008) and was invited by Alessandro Melis to exhibit at the Italian Pavilion of the International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale of 2021.

Vittorio Netti
Born in Bari, Graduated in Venice in Architecture Sciences, subsequently in Architecture and project cultures, and finally in Space Architecture at the University of Houston, where he holds the position of Researcher at SICSA (Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture) and Teaching Assistant for the Space Technology studio (Position he also holds at the Politecnico di Milano for the Architecture for Human Space Exploration course). Recently PhD candidate in Aerospace Engineering and Sciences at the Poltecnico di Bari. He currently holds the position of Project Manager for the research group DOME (Drone Operations for Martian Environment) with which he took part as Executive Officer in a similar simulation mission for Mars carried out at the MDRS (Mars Desert Research Station). in the Utah desert, where he will return as commander of the SMOPS mission in November 2021. In the last year he has worked as a consultant at SEArch + for the Olympus Project within the NASA MMPACT Team for the development of the first lunar infrastructure capable of supporting beings humans for Long Duration Mission on the surface. He is currently a member of the SATC (Space Architecture Technical Committee) of the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics).