From the very first seed settlements, acrylic will feature in many ways in the aesthetics of Aquarian colonies, most prominently in the construction of large public aquariums, water gardens, and water sculptures. As the colonies grow in scale, so too will the scale of such structures, ultimately rivaling such structures as the Berlin AquaDom and many of the world’s largest public aquariums. These will be the second gardens of Aquarius, eventually extending beyond the confines of free-standing enclosures to include vast synthetic reefs constructed in colony recreational bays and experienced through complexes of underwater habitats and walking trails constructed from elaborate and sculptural acrylic hull structures with interior fixtures and furnishings supported by internal space frame structures.
To cost-effectively construct such elaborate structures the engineers of Aquarius colonies will need to become versed in the technology of large area cast acrylic structures, the creation of acrylic structures by precision-casting large segments of a structures which is then assembled into a larger whole by in-situ casting of seamless and invisible joins. The full architectural and artistic potential of such technology remains unexplored today, due largely to very high costs and scarce skill pools. But such skill will have uses far beyond the aesthetic. Mastering this technology will give Aquarian communities an option to become a major developer of manned submersibles and will be put to good use in the creation of window structures for space habitats.
Long-term, acrylic is likely to be superseded by superior materials such as transparent alloys and diamondoid materials. Design and engineering techniques cultivated for the creation of large acryclic structures will find new use with these new materials, producing similar structures of vastly greater scale and new applications such as transparent high performance submersible, aircraft, and spacecraft hulls, vehicle bodies, and transparent shell architecture. As newer fabrication techniques enable increased use of organic design in the architecture of colonies, more and larger transparent and translucent structures may be integrates into them to enhance their already organismic character, resulting in radical luminescent forms we can only imagine today.
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Peer Topics[]
- OTEC
- Pneumatically Stabilized Platforms - PSP
- Sea Towers
- SeaFoam
- Aquarian Digital Infrastructure
- VersaBot
- Cold Water Radiant Cooling
- Polyspecies Mariculture
- Free-Range Fish Farming
- Algeaculture
- Terra Preta
- Cold-Bed Agriculture
- Hydroponics
- Small Space Animal Husbandry
- Tidal/Wave/Current Systems
- Algae-Based Biofuel Systems
- Vanadium Redox Systems
- Hydride Storage Systems
- Next-Generation Hydrogen Storage
- Alternative Hydrolizer Systems
- Supercritical Water Oxidation
- Plasma Waste Conversion