Infrastructure is architecture: the overlooked half of the problem
Marina Konstantatou (Associate Partner Foster & Partners)
Space architecture becomes truly real when it stops being a single object and becomes an ecosystem. A long-term presence requires infrastructure. This is also why space architecture is increasingly defined not by iconic “bases,” but by networks of interdependent modules. This lecture will focus on recent Foster + Partners projects in which habitats and infrastructure are co-dependent and designed together as one integrated system.
Marina is an Associate Partner at F + P and an Industrial Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In her hybrid role spanning industry and academia, she is based at the Specialist Modelling Group (SMG) at Foster + Partners and the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. As a Design Systems Analyst and SMG Research Lead, she specialises in conceptual structural design, form-finding, and architectural geometry. In addition, she contributes to research projects focusing on additive manufacture, robotics, space architecture and extra-terrestrial infrastructure. In her academic capacity, Marina develops computational tools and theoretical frameworks for the design of materially efficient structures using graphic statics. Marina has a background in applied mathematics and physics, after which she specialised in computational design at the Architectural Association, and civil engineering at the University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD from the Department of Engineering on ‘Geometry-based structural analysis and design’ (graphic statics). Her previous academic and industry collaborations include ETH Zurich (Chair of structural design) and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (structures group).
Talk within the design studio Large Orbital Space Structures.