Better, cheaper and easier than solar windows, this newly-patented flexible coating can be applied to existing glass and plastic surfaces, turning any aperture into a source of electricity. With this technology on all of its surfaces, buildings can generate up to 50 times more solar energy per structure.

Developed by SolarWindow Technologies, this inexpensive approach has a payback time of as little as one year (far less than the 5 to 10 years of traditional solar approaches. As the technology evolves and expands, it is only a matter of time until every window draws energy from light.

By adding it to the inside surface of a window, the process protects the tech from exterior sources of damage and simplifies application. The solution is also lightweight and adaptable, making it easier to retrofit existing architecture without cost-intensive shipping or labor-intensive installation processes.

These sensitive photovoltaics can draw power from lunar energy and artificial lights in addition to the sun’s rays. Their relatively low price per unit reinforces the sensibility of simply putting them on all sides of a structure, including those with less natural light.

Effectively invisible wires draw electricity from the exposed surfaces while a uniform and architecturally-neutral color tinting process allows for a variety of of looks and degrees of transparency.

This new substance can be deployed as a sticky film on a surface or potentially even painted on as a liquid. The organic (but secretive) constituent source materials of the core polymer include common elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen.

Artificial environments designed for space have thus far remained totally utilitarian, but what if more aesthetic considerations were brought into the mix? These design concepts range from constantly morphing art galleries for the International Space Station to a moon base built using existing 3D printing technology and designed by a renowned architecture firm.

Tate in Space: Cultural Center for the International Space Station

Artists, designers and other creatives haven’t exactly been included in the process of space exploration thus far, but this project by ETALAB aims to change that with an outer space gallery where artists, curators and visitors interact with works of art and architecture in zones of zero and partial gravity. Docked at the International Space Station, ‘Tate in Space’ features a flexible ‘envelope’ made from a smart material based on biomechanics that enables the space to constantly shift in shape.

Olympic Stadium for the Moon

Designed as part of the ‘MARS ONE’ project that aims to start colonizing Mars and other locations in space within a matter of mere years, SILO (Stadium International Lunar Olympics) is a stadium for the moon complete with a hotel, restaurants and a solar electric system as well as seats for 100,000. The designers say, “Within the lunar colonies of the future, recreational activities will arise and evolve to take advantage of the moon’s micro-gravity. The sports we know today will be modified, and brand new sports will be invented. Lunar sports associations will be created, teams will be sponsored, games will be televised, and people from all over the globe will watch as the best of the best compete in an arena in which all the rules have changed.”

Mars Colonization by ZA Architects

Solar-powered robots could excavate dwellings for humans on Mars before the people ever arrive in this concept by ZA Architects. Choosing areas where the basalt rock has formed into hexagonal columns, which can be easily removed to create cathedral-like spaces, the robots would weave web-like structures from basalt fibers to create floors at various levels within the caves.

Self-Assembling House for the Moon

A crowd-funding initiative will send a self-assembling house to the moon in October 15th on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 spacecraft. The building, designed by American aerospace company Astrobotic, will be made from a thin sheet of specially developed cloth stretched over a carbon frame. Once it’s placed on the lunar surface, it will fill up with gas and stand erect within five to fifteen minutes.

Russian Space Station Hotel

Russia’s plans for a space hotel would house seven guests in four cabins, 217 miles above the surface of the Earth. The hotel would also function as accommodations for scientists on space-related missions, and as an emergency blowhole for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. A five-day stay will set guests back $100,000 in addition to the half-million it costs to get to space in the first place.

Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea

This series of fantastical images doesn’t even try to be technically correct or scientifically possible, but it was commissioned by NASA all the same to represent a vision of existence on Mars. The artists used photo-mosaic panoramas of expeditions by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity as backdrops for surreal scenes.

3D Moon Base by Foster + Partners

Architecture firm Foster + Partners, responsible for many iconic buildings on Earth, have designed a four-person lunar base that uses 3D printing technology to ‘print’ a protective layer of locally-sourced lunar soil over an inflatable dome. Commissioned by the European Space Agency, the project takes a look at the feasibility of actually building such a structure using currently existing technology.

Moon Dwelling by Royal Haskoning Architects

A transparent sphere houses living spaces for lunar residents in this concept by Royal Haskoning Architects, offering inhabitants unlimited views of the awe-inspiring setting if not a whole lot of privacy. But then again, who needs privacy when you live on the moon? A protective screen rotates around the sphere to protect the inside from the harsh rays of the sun. The sphere is envisioned as a mini-Earth with its own oxygen supply and various levels that inhabitants can simply float between rather than taking the stairs.

Martian Base by Janek Kozicki

Husband and wife design team Janek Kozicki and Joanna Kozicka have created a number of concept designs for Martian bases generally powered by either a radio-isotope generator or a small nuclear power plant, along with practical architectural guidelines for building on other planets. The design pictured above, by Kozicki, is a modular setup that would start with a single pod and grow with subsequent trips to and from Earth to ultimately accommodate several dozen people.

Inflatable Pods by Joanna Kozicka

Kozicka’s solutions include inflatable pods that are lightweight, easy to deploy, and ultimately offer a bigger payoff in terms of square footage for the size of the load sent to Mars. The designs address the sociopsychological problems that the couple identified in relation to living on another planet, avoiding isolated and confined environments in favor of large, comfortable spaces that let in sunlight and allow contact with nature.

Shackleton Crater Lunar Outpost

NASA’s Lunar Architecture Team is working on a design for a permanent lunar outpost that could be set up the next time humans land on the moon. Designed for Shackleton Crater, located at the south pole of the moon, the habitat would consist of larger modules sent ahead of time on a cargo lander.

Luna Ring Concept

The Luna Ring concept would put permanent solar collectors around the moon’s equator like a belt, with solar cells collecting energy that would then be beamed back to Earth via microwave power transmission antennae. A team of astronauts would supervise the robot construction workers carrying out the installation process.

Fractal Lunar Architecture

A fractal design for a lunar base by Hatem Al Khafaji of Dubai makes it easy to expand the available space as needed using a system of seven modular components of living pods, air locks, corridors and connectors. Layers of these modules would be placed around a central ‘heart’ and continuously stacked by teams of robots and human workers.

Magnifying light by a factor of 10,000, this liquid-filled, sun-tracking, energy-harvesting glass sphere is so powerful that it can not only harvest solar rays directly but is even able to draw power from reflected lunar light. Its high efficiency comes from the motion of its panning capture apparatus as well as the nearly-lossless concentration of thermal energy.

André Broessel is the European architect and engineer behind this weatherproof energy harvesting system that turns light into heat. It is in many regards more robust, efficient and versatile than traditional photovalics, concentrating available light sources and multiplying their thermal effect (click to enlarge the diagram below for a better understanding of the basic system).

Made to be mounted on buildings individually or in arrays, a computerized control system passively tracks available illumination in the day, but can also follow and be fueled by moonlight.

The balls can work both to generate power and as replacements to traditional window apertures, creating a wide variety of potential hybrid architectural applications as well.

Finally, this video “is an introduction to Rawlemon Solar Energy Generator. It shortly explain the principles of our patent pending micro tracking system, and few applications we are working on” – for more, visit their website here.

One of the biggest challenges of settlements in space is the cost of transporting materials and technologies for construction, a problem addressed beautifully via 3D printing technology in this architectural proposal (currently being prototyped on Earth).

The design by Foster + Partners (in conjunction with the European Space Agency) uses a minimum of imported materials – mainly: an inflatable core, pumped up into domes and tunnels on site.

Yet despite its simplicity, the project addresses everything from extreme temperature fluctuations to gamma radiation in this ingenious multi-person dwelling, effectively allowing humans to bypass the need to burrow below the surface while still using it effectively as a shield.

The man-made domes at the center of the concept are augmented by 3D-printed material derived from locally-sourced soil – a concrete-style foam substance providing stability, safety and structural support.