Transpositions of landscapes have been present throughout history, from historical landscapes such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the contemporary English garden. The concept of re-creating landscapes has been a key design component for landscape architects for decades. This concept can be dated back to the history of taxonomy, the practice of defining groups on basis of shared characteristics. Institutions such as museums, botanical gardens and zoos have been historically significant in the collection and displaying of artifacts or objects in each fields respectively.
The project explores the collection of landscapes in the form of a terrestrial analogue site, a typology in the realm of collecting and displaying in the public realm. The thesis proposes the design of landscapes, environments and atmospheres of a celestial body such as the Moon within the confinements of Earth. The site will be used in the frame of space exploration (training), research (education), and tourism to study the geological and biological processes observed on other planets to enhance the understanding of our own planet.
Terrestrial analogues can be defined as places on Earth that exhibit geologic or atmospheric characteristics which are close to those observed on other celestial bodies, to sites that are used for space mission simulations to test sampling or drilling equipment, space suits, or the performance of astronauts in reduced gravity. Some sites are therefore suited to test instruments for exobiological research or to train sampling procedures for field explorations. Other sites offer an extreme environment that can be used by astronauts to prepare for the difficulties in future space missions. A map of analogue sites on earth used by different space agencies is shown. (Figure 6)
Before NASA was able to land the Apollo crew on the moon, scientists had to rely on terrestrial analogues to conduct simulations. Apollo astronauts rehearsed and simulated every second of their mission on these analogues, from planting the flag indoors, outdoors, in space suits, underwater, in planes, in centrifuges, in pools, in the ocean. Astronauts were prepared for every contingency and trained for water planned landings as well as desert and jungle survival in case their capsule missed the ocean and hit land. (Figure 5) They also studied geology, how to withstand g-forces, maneuver in low and zero gravity conditions, and how to drive rovers and land the lunar module, all of these were conducted on Earth on or in analogue sites . Today analogue sites play an important role for optimizing scientific and technological needs and exploration strategies in both robotic or manned missions to the Moon or Mars.
From 1963 to 1973, a group of young geoscientists working for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Branch of Astrogeology in Flagstaff, played a major role in one of Mankind’s greatest achievements—the six Apollo expeditions to the Moon. The City of Flagstaff have long played a distinguished role in hosting the development of the relatively new science of “Astrogeology”—the geologic study of the Earth and other solid bodies in the Solar System. The geologist  Eugene M. Shoemaker (1928- 1997), who coined the term “Astrogeology”, first established the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeologic Studies Unit in Menlo Park, California, in 1960.
By 1963, Shoemaker had moved the branch’s permanent headquarters to Flagstaff, Arizona. While in Flagstaff the branch played an integral part in NASA’s missions since 1950, through extensive mapping of extraterrestrial planets, working on all six missions to the Moon. Detailed mapping of the lunar surface have aided astronauts in discovering the best landing spots as well as in training. (Figure 1) Shoemaker strongly weighed the fact that Flagstaff had important attributes, it was centrally located near a number of natural landmarks which would be well-suited for training NASA’s astronauts in general geologic field procedures. The region also provided an unsurpassed first-hand study of landforms resulting from volcanism as well as impact cratering. The landmarks within easy reach of Flagstaff included Meteor Crater, Sunset Crater, Hopi Buttes and the project’s site the Cinder Lakes. (Figure 4)
From the 1960s to 1970s, the Cinder Lakes played a large part in the Space Race, its volcanic terrain and geologic composition puts it near the center of the lunar training program for NASA’s Apollo Missions. The area, covered in basaltic cinders from a volcanic explosion that took place around 1064, its material characteristics are similar to that found on Mare Tranquillitatis, the chosen landing site for Apollo 11. Using satellite photographs of the selected area, engineers and scientists from the USGS's Astrogeology division transformed the site into a re-creation of the Moon, blasting hundreds of different-sized craters in the earth to form the Cinder Lake Crater Field, forming an ideal training ground for astronauts,. As the Apollo program came to a close, astronauts and geologists eventually left the Cinder Lakes. The last training simulation took place at the site in 1972 with the crew of Apollo 17. The craters have since been seriously degraded by wind and human use, especially at Crater Field 2, now a popular destination for off-roaders and ATVs. (Figure 5)
Narrative, Horizons, and Atmospheres
The culmination of research of maps, photographs, descriptions and the site visit led me to the idea of re-designing a terrestrial analogue site in Flagstaff, Arizona as a proving grounds for the post-apollo program that is accessible to the public, engaging the public through an open-air museum type park. A proposed narrative situates the project in a speculative future, a future just a little farther along than we are now, a fiction not to far from reality. Inspired by true events, the storyline envisions NASA being invested by the private sector, where post-Apollo missions to the moon will be  developed hand in hand with the private sector. This need to expose the inner workings and development of what used to be a confidential program was the primary design factor for the thesis.
Envisioning a project in which private operations (NASA research and training) would be accessible for the public to experience, “The Lunar Field” positions itself in the intersection of science, art, and landscape architecture. The project consists of lunar landscapes constructed to simulate the rugged terrain of the moon. (Figure 2) The northern part of the site simulates the “near side” of the moon, marked by dark volcanic maria that fill between the bright ancient crustal highlands and prominent impact craters. (Figure 7) While the southern part of the site simulates the far side of the moon with it’s rugged terrain with smaller but more abundant amount of impact craters. While the Moon can appear to have a very bright white surface, its surface is actually dark, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. In synchronization with the Moon the park will operate on a schedule that allows the terrain to be viewed during night times. This will allow a similar effect to be replicated within the park.
Buzz Aldrin description of the Moon was one that influenced the project : “There’s a starkness.There’s a precision, and yet there’s a disorder. It’s the precision of dust and rocks and definitive horizon. The disappearing of the horizon, it is distinct. There’s no haze, no nothing obscuring it, and that makes distant objects appear clear, very clear. And then there’s the rock, and then there’s nothing. You look out and you see that. Whether you realize or note, you’re looking at the edge of a ball, and you’re on it.” One of the design challenges was how to embed the stations in a way that will not disrupt the continuos landscape, retaining the sense of a “no-place” and its distinct horizon.
The site will be used in framing and displaying lunar landscapes. Historical artifacts such as lunar landers and objects left on the moon will be updated accordingly. (Figure 8) Astronauts and scientist will be able to operate and simulate in this new terrain, designed to augment the lunar surface in conjunction to visitors coming to the site. Cuts and excavations will create stations pocketed within the craters that allow the infrastructure to be hidden forming an undisturbed, object-less terrain. These six stations provide visitors with viewing platforms that allow them to be hidden from the other users on the site. Framing the sky and the terrain users will be able to experience a lunar like experience during the night on days with a full moon.
(Figure 9) Simulations and routine fieldwork are among the tasks being performed on the landscape. Astronauts will be able to run lunar rover simulations and practice soil sampling techniques wearing replica space suits, while visitors will be able to observe the astronauts in action.
The design of the project takes queues from John Dixon Hunt’s essays on triggers and prompts in design. By using a number of theatrical devices such as entry thresholds and liminality, the passage from outside to inside, dramatic frames and scenes, displacement and collage, inscription and markings.  These precisely designed triggers and prompts are all concentrations of an effect that draw the visitor into another world, heightening the allure and distinctiveness of a special place. The visitor becomes as much a performer as viewer, more deeply engaged in participating in the theatricality of the lunar landscape. (Figure 10) My interest in design and research led me to embrace the emerging design disciplinary that emphasizes on “design narratives” and “research through design” as a technique for exploring the potential value of new design work within landscape architecture.
