Helix

There seems to be a trend of designing speculative interiors for the SpaceX's upcoming Starship. It's large size and blank-canvas nature lend itself to being the object of imagination for all matter of speculative designers and techno-optimists. I view many of the aforementioned designs the same way I view speculative renderings of towering vertical farms and glass-domed moon habitats: lacking in rigor and excessive in sex appeal. That being said, I'd like to try my hand at a concept for how to organize spaces for long duration, high capacity journeys in the blank canvas that is the SpaceX Starship.

The name for this project is derived from the helical structure of the corridors connecting the community areas, quarters, and support space units. The goal of this project was to explore the opportunities for unique spatial organization that is efficient, practical, and appropriate for all the environments that the Starship will be in.

The conceptual layout has the crew quarters located in the central column oriented radially. It is important on long-duration missions with many people in close quarters that each individual is provided a space of their own. This is why designs with an entire deck filled with lounge/launch chairs will not work long term. The larger group areas are located closer to the nose portion, where any desired portals might be located. These open areas are also important for long-term travel, as it’s easy to become claustrophobic in a tight, enclosed space (not even submarine trips last 6 months). There is plenty of storage and activity/functional spaces available and accessible along the corridors.

For more information, visit the project page at Orbital Design.