Lord Norman Foster plans to build on the moon



The final frontier: Lord Foster's latest project could see him build on the moon. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Having left the capitals of half the world studded with towers, tents, gherkins and globes, the architect Lord Norman Foster is now gazing into the heavens.

His firm, whose most famous projects include the British Museum's Great Court and the rebuilt Reichstag in Germany, is joining a European consortium pitching for the farthest frontier.

The project would be part of the Aurora programme of the European Space Agency.

According to Building Magazine, it would investigate adapting materials found in space for building purposes, using data from the original Apollo moon landing, and new information gathered by robot vehicles on Mars.

Among the objectives would be building permanent structures on the moon.

A spokesman at the London headquarters of Foster and Partners confirmed "there is a tender" but refused to elaborate on Foster's plans to conquer outer space, possibly by adding a nice glass dome.
Foster and Partners is designing the world's first private spaceport for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which is scheduled to start launching from the New Mexico desert in 2011.


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