Launch of the primary modules of the ISS is currently planned for fall/winter, 1998 (Boeing, 1998) and the habitation module, used for the project described in this paper, is scheduled for launch in 2002 (NASA, 1998). In 1997 completed ISS modules and full-scale models of the modules were moved to Kennedy Space Flight Center and Johnson Space Flight Center in preparation for transport into space and construction of the ISS. MSFC is the site of the construction of the ISS. The students consulted NASA engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, AL, and officials of The Boeing Company's operations in Huntsville, primary contractors for construction of the ISS (Boeing, 1998). Participating students produced design solutions based design concerns involved in the planning of the habitation module. This senior level interior design studio focuses on the use of 3-DCAD to solve design problems and present solutions. Comparisons may be made between this project and a more conventional, CAD based senior studio project.ĭuring three consecutive years, students participating in an Advanced Computer Aided Design studio at East Carolina University produced interior design solutions for the habitation module of the International Space station (ISS). The project holds implications for research. Students agreed that the lack of space and privacy should be addressed by module designers. This exercise expanded abilities of observation, cognition, and required a high level of 3-D computer graphic presentation in order to describe solutions to this difficult environmental challenge. The project required that students revisit design and anthropometric basics and apply alterations required by a micro-gravity environment. Students produced variations of the interior of the habitation module of the International Space Station in order to make it more functional for life in a micro-gravity environment.
NASA's Habitation Module for the International Space StationĮ-mail: purpose of this class project was to design an unconventional interior environment while completing a series of presentations using a variety of 3-D CAD techniques.
Computer Simulation and the Design of the Interior of