Futuristic pioneering spirit: AVATAR X Lab at Ôita by Clouds Architecture Office

Clouds Architecture Office has unveiled its first concept design for the 'AVATAR X Lab' in Ôita. The project is collaboration between ANA Holdings Inc. (ANA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The research establishment for aeronautics and space exploration will be built in the prefecture of Ôita on Kyûshû, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, where the topography displays a certain similarity to a lunar surface. The campus, which will be used by a consortium of high-tech enterprises engaged in space research, consists of a number of structures.  The 'AVATAR X Lab Building' is the centrepiece, and comes in the form of a suspended octahedron that seems to float above a moon crater. All the other elements are placed in a curved arrangement, as if in orbit around the 'AVATAR X Lab Building'.

The campus also features a 'Moon Environment Simulator' where it will be possible to use remote-controlled, semi-autonomous AVATAR robots to test possibilities of creating lunar environments conducive to human life.  In an ode to the pioneering spirit of aerospace exploration, the 'AVATAR X Lab' in Ôita has been intentionally given an iconic, futuristic-looking design.

Further information:

AVATAR X is part of »ANA’s AVATAR Vision« a breakthrough endeavor to advance and pioneer real-world Avatar technologies, and JAXA’s new research and development program »J-SPARC« (JAXA Space Innovation through Partnership and Co-creation).

Project Team: Masayuki Sono, Ostap Rudakevych, Yuko Sono, Kevin Huang

Structural Design: Jun Sato / University of Tokyo + Jun Sato Structural Engineers Co Ltd