Monday, August 31, 2009

Lunar Architecture

This is an image from my morgue, so I don't remember the source or date, but it's at least 1970ish or earlier. It's obviously a visionary rendition of a future lunar base, and I just am gaga over the concept of domes and building into the geologic formations. And that vehicle looks like a VW bug—yow, how cool!



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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you'll find interesting that the very same landscape was featured in soviet film Doroga k Zvezdam (Road to The Stars). It is educational film by Pavel Klushantsev who was on forefront of special effects, so that his films heavily influenced 2001.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSVM6yNAxc
(click to 06:50)

This film was released in 1957, in time with launching first Sputnik into space, but filming started three years prior that. Is it possible to find a proper date for Smith's picture?

August 31, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Smith was a dominant space artist/designer in the 40s, into the 50s, ranking with Chesley Bonestell. I will see if I can get more info. Thanks for the link.

August 31, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Ralph A. Smith, of the British Interplanetary Society, illustrated a grand book of space entitled, Exploration of the Moon, published in 1954. It's possible that this lunar base design was in that book, which I have in storage and will try to extricate in the next couple of weeks and post more images. This particular image was cut from an old textbook or such, so I will have to wait to confirm the 1954 date, but, well, um, so far that fits within your timeline.

August 31, 2009 at 10:12 PM
xenophobe said...

The pic above entitled "The Lunar Base" is plate V in the book "The Exploration of Space" by Arthur C. Clarke, published in 1951. Most of the illustrations in the book are monochrome and by R. A. Smith, but there are four in colour by Leslie Carr:

Automatic Rocket Surveying Mars
The Lunar Base
The Martian Base
A Multiple Sun System

The Martian Base can be seen here:

http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/tag/arthur-c-clarke

The timeline suggests that the Russian film was influenced by this plate, or possibly by the Smith drawing if it was ever published.

September 1, 2009 at 9:41 AM
Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Yes, thank you. Once I find my book, I plan to post some more high-res scans.

September 2, 2009 at 6:16 AM

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