Abitare l'inabitabile. I deserti dello Spazio.

The contribution draws attention to those analogies between the desert and celestial bodies that have always fuelled the construction of the imaginary cosmic landscape. The study of design proposals for extraterrestrial habitats and settlements enables the identification of recurring settlement models where the desert continues to serve as a laboratory for experimentation in space architecture. The dialogue between design and exceptional environmental conditions becomes an expression of a “natural” idea of ecology which, going beyond the mere search for technical solutions, frees itself from the “superfluous” and becomes a theoretical tool and operational material.