A village under the Moon.
Jury’s special mention – J.Rougerie Foundation – Institut de France – 2018
Learn from history and ancient civilizations.
1150 years BC, the situation was critical for the city of Pi-Ramsès: the green banks of the Nile river have turned into an arid and barren desert. Fortunately Ramses II, his builder, had it all figured out and so this city could be fully rebuilt stone by stone. So it was rebuilt 40 kms to the west and renamed Tanis. A feat made possible because the city had been designed so from the beginning.
Caves on the Moon, how to be protected from cosmic radiations?
In 2017 The NASA LRO probe discovered holes on the Moon that led to former lava tubes of several dozens of kilometers long. An opportunity that solved recurring problems faced by several space agencies : how to protect future lunar inhabitants from lethal radiations, micrometeorites and strong temperature variations?
This excellent news inspired us. Today, 50 years after the first moon landing of Apollo 11, we imagined and designed a village under the Moon adapted to be movable. Each capsule is like a turtle with its strong shell that can accommodate its legs and some apertures allowing them to be connected to each other.
Biomimetism: inspired by the nature.
They will be joined to each other such as the cells of plants and so the village will be able to adapt itself and evolve by following the uneven outlines of our satellite on the surface as well as in lava tubes. It can be compared to a starfish moving at the bottom of the sea. It will be enlightened by a
Bioluminescent PhytoplanktonSeveral ones could be placed in the first version of the future NASA rocket SLS due to be launched in a year!
A tribute to Stanley Kubrick and Jules Verne.
Half a century after Stanley Kubrick’s movie « on 2001 the Odyssey of the space » to which we wanted to pay a tribute to it by creating our sketch. A century before him Jules Verne imagined in his novel « De la Terre à la Lune » a journey in four days. The inhabitants on the moon were called the Selenites. A name that comes from the Greek goddess of the full Moon: Séléné. In memory of this novel which informed my entire childhood and that of my father and also inspired numerous projects, we gave the name Séléna to this village under the Moon.
Sélénia – A Real Dream registered concept