Grishm Ganatra

What are the consequences of extractivist ideals in a time where the prospect of mining space resources is conceivable?

The Space Race of the 1960’s was one of spectacle, a hopeful vision of progress acting as a coping mechanism for the aftermath of WWII. Yet now, launch costs have reduced and government funding has weakened, accessibility to space is increasing and the prospect of resource extraction on the Moon is becoming feasible. At the core of such a vision lies an inherent capitalist agenda; one of greed and exploitation. These endeavours of space faring nations and private players reach not far from a revised colonialist ideal, a tale of the capitalist and the extractivist.

The form of the project lends itself towards the typology of mining operations as a critique on its use as a socio-territorial strategy doused in the function of resource extraction. The landscape emulates the typology of a human instinct, a terrain defined by an impulsive reaction of greed and exploitation towards resources, a capitalist gluttony. As remote mining operations increase and the Moon is further industrialised, a central crater will be excavated, with the displaced materials being poured onto the main structures. The crater, a public space, becomes a physical record, a symbol of a burgeoning impression being carved into the landscape, a symptom of such a primal instinct.

The project comprises of a Research Centre used by the Australian Space Agency, Congress Space, Convention Centre and a Cinema. The circular structure that floats between these structures acts as a mode of circulation between the private and public areas of the site. The path wraps around and through each of these spaces as it invites the public eye. A structure that peers inwards, a window to the occurrences within each space. This public pathway is a circular structure that emulates the typology of centrifuges and the architecture of space modules.

A fictional narrative has been employed as part of a speculative drawing series imagining this critique project over the next century. The chosen years consider the effect of time on the project and the extractivist ideals at play as they also pay homage to classic science fiction stories and films, a key inspiration for the project.