In deciding how to design for life on the moon, we must first have an understanding of life on earth. Clearly we all have a relatively good handle on the day to day of living on earth, but when you start thinking about which parts you would take with you if you had to leave, you focus on different things. Those are the very things which we must focus on and try to capture as we head for the moon because without considering them, any long term extra-terrestrial residence would be short lived.

The factors of terrestrial life which would be most important to transpose would fall into one or more of several categories.

Control
This can mean a number of things when applied to any number of scales or situations. In terms of the built environment, the ability to go from a private space to a public space and then back again is something we hold very dear as individuals. We often take for granted how soothing it can be to have four walls and a door that you can close and know that you are on your own and, at the very least, no one will be able to enter unannounced. In our world, having a space that is our own, that is not anyone elseÕs, is a symbol of being ones own, not just one of a collective.

Nature
There is a reason they plant trees in cities. They do it because no matter how much we build, how much we marvel at our own engineering might, how much we all cram together into urban centers, we all have an ingrained connection with the natural world. We evolved from tree dwellers and part of that never left, the animal part of us that longs to run through the woods hearing the twigs crunch beneath our feet. Usually we have to snap out of that day dream though because the behind us in line at the pharmacy is coughing so much you consider going to the cleaners afterwards. While the feeling of the built world will be omnipresent on the moon, as it is essential for survival, bringing living things with us will remind us that the world was not built by us alone.

Variation
Even a routine of play needs to be varied. The world around us is not the same every day, but certain things about it become very routine if they have no variation. We can travel a commute every day, the same way, for months, and not give it a second thought until the day a road is closed and weÕre forced to find a new route home. Suddenly, the change in scenery alone is enough to make you turn off the radio and just pay attention to the world around you. While a big part of what makes something as complex as a permanent habitat on the moon work is repetition and routines, finding where things can be varied and varying them appropriately can make all the difference.

Community
Most important of all, is the sense that we are not alone. This factor is often forgotten among all the physical and physiological needs of the future explorers, but having the people there feel like a community will make a place as harsh as the moon livable, make it feel like home. More than anything, we need each other. Much of the sense of community will be built in, a group of people with common interests and goals all undergoing a great struggle and grand experiment together. But if community isnÕt nurtured, it will wither. If planned well, the meals, the schedule, and even the built environment can all go towards nurturing the community.

Diurnal Regulation Through Variable Opacity
One of the aspects of the natural world that we have a hard time keeping up with even on earth is the diurnal cycle, the daily transitions between light and dark. We evolved as creatures with this as part of our natural world and when we disturb it, we can feel the effects. People working in polar regions, where night and day last for six months each, experience sleep depravation as one of their most common ailments. When we stop receiving natural signals to wake and sleep, we stop getting regular, healthy sleep which leads to a reduction of cognition, adverse emotional effects, and a forgoing of social graces. Ask any college student who just pulled an all-nighter or two and see how theyÕre doing.

Simply being told to wake and sleep, however, is not enough. If this were so, people working at polar camps would not have problems. The way the natural world tells us to sleep and wake is a very important part of how we receive the message. The amount of light in our surroundings, for instance, tells us a lot. Variable opacity materials will therefore come in very handy in constructing the exterior bounding walls of the environment. If the sun stays up for two weeks straight, we must control how much of its light gets to us. Subtle, passive ways of reminding people that there is still a 24 hour cycle, just as there are in nature, will be much more effective than simply telling them to go to bed.

Olfactory Transmission and Reproduction
While this is based on technology that has not yet reached maturity, it will do so within the next few decades. One of the ways we experience the world, smell, will be hindered in such a closed environment. Smell is often overlooked as an aspect of our lives that, when brought with us to such a controlled environment, will help people stay happy and stable.

The idea is that someone will be able to capture the smell of a place the same way that a camera captures an image of a place. Smells will be attached to the messages and pictures sent by friends and families to the astronauts in the same way that one attaches a file to an email. The smell will be translated into information and translated by a scent creation device on the other person's end. The idea is not a new one, but the technology will finally be advanced to a point where its application will be seamless and effective.

Familiar Objects Means Familar Surroundings
Whether we like it or not, the world we live in is made up of objects and the way we experience a great deal of it is through our objects. This excludes materiality though, and has more to do with the way objects can hold memory for us. A set of book ends, a small figurine, a mug; all these things could have little to no material value but an incalculable amount of emotional value. The items we choose to keep around us, to make up our world, plays a big part in who we are. Being able to chose objects to bring from earth other than those mandated will help the crew members keep a tighter hold on the control of the space around them.

Astronauts today are allowed to bring small personal effects with them, and importance of this will only grow as the duration we live in these conditions increases. This idea is purposefully unstructured and would be left completely open to the personal preferences of each individual crew member. The point of it is that each object is completely personal so any kind of attempt to standardize the practice would be misguided.

Private and Public Spaces
One of the ways in which we keep control over our environment is by how much time we spend in either public or private spaces. Here, when someone is in a bad mood, they usually have the ability to extricate themselves and stay in a private space. Most often this is a bedroom, a place where one can close the door and know, at the very least, that they wont be barged in upon. Having that kind of space is very important to how we go about about our lives. After a hard day, sometimes the best remedy is to just go home, close the door, and be alone for a little while. This will be even more important when constructing our first settlements on the moon. If we want to live there, we need to be able to call a part of it home, and to do that, we need for part of it to be a home.

Handrails Assist Manuverability
Another aspect of control over ones environment is the way we get around. For us, this manifests itself as things like whether or not we walk to work, or ride a bike, or drive a car. Our ability to make choices about how we move around is very natural to us because it is not something that is out of the ordinary. We rarely thing about our freedom of movement because it is so rarely hindered. When the first astronauts landed on the moon they soon found that "normal" bipedal motion was rather defunct. On earth we rely on gravity to pull us down so we can essentially fall forward and push off from the ground. On the moon, the 1/6th gravity makes moving around like that impossible. Astronauts soon resorted to skipping and hopping to get around.

While this could not be eliminated, to keep crew members from constantly having to resort to skipping around, handrails could be installed at waist level all through out the base. These handrails could be used as a way to help with maneuverability in tight situations where a hop or skip would be awkward. When talking to someone in a hallway, if a crew member wanted to get a little bit closer to the person they were talking to, they could simply pull themselves forward a few inches instead of trying to take little baby hops and likely disrupting the conversation. While making a sandwich in the kitchen, being able to use ones hands to help maneuver around the tight spaces would be much preferable to having to skip around and risk running into things.

Garden as Centerpoint of Community
The transposition of aspects of the natural world we often overlook will be important, but bringing living pieces of the natural world that are more visible will be equally as important. Trees, plants, and all manner of crops will make up the center piece of the colony. Like I mentioned before, there is a reason people plant trees in cities. We were not meant to live in completely built environments, we are animals at heart and have a connection with nature that is deeper than anything. The Garden fosters several aspects of life on earth at once. At face value, it is very clearly a plot of the natural world that has been literally brought with us. It provides sights and smells that would otherwise be absent in the sterile environment of the station. But on a deeper level, it acts as as a common ground for the entire community, a common vantage point, and a part of the natural world that can bring them all together. Having a tight nit community will be an essential part of successful life on the moon and this will be a great way to foster it. Every member of the crew would to spend some time getting their hands dirty and tending to plants and crops that are grown. The fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices that are grown here liven up their otherwise repetitive meals, as well as give the air in the base the feint scent of nature, instead of recycled air, a reminder that there are living things here in this place besides people, and that they are essential part of life.

Diurnal Regulation Through Ambient Lighting
Another aspect of control over ones environment is the way we get around. For us, this manifests itself as things like whether or not we walk to work, or ride a bike, or drive a car. Our ability to make choices about how we move around is very natural to us because it is not something that is out of the ordinary. We rarely thing about our freedom of movement because it is so rarely hindered. When the first astronauts landed on the moon they soon found that "normal" bipedal motion was rather defunct. On earth we rely on gravity to pull us down so we can essentially fall forward and push off from the ground. On the moon, the 1/6th gravity makes moving around like that impossible. Astronauts soon resorted to skipping and hopping to get around.

While this could not be eliminated, to keep crew members from constantly having to resort to skipping around, handrails could be installed at waist level all through out the base. These handrails could be used as a way to help with maneuverability in tight situations where a hop or skip would be awkward. When talking to someone in a hallway, if a crew member wanted to get a little bit closer to the person they were talking to, they could simply pull themselves forward a few inches instead of trying to take little baby hops and likely disrupting the conversation. While making a sandwich in the kitchen, being able to use ones hands to help maneuver around the tight spaces would be much preferable to having to skip around and risk running into things.

Common Meals Foster Community
One of the oldest ways for people in a community to bond is for them to eat together. The act of taking time out of ones day, every day, and sharing a common practice with the community is essential to building, and keeping, a strong community. A common meal is a great way to do this. Everyone can sit and share together, keep up with what has been going on in others lives and the life of the base as a whole. Really, the meal is inconsequential, what is most important here is that everyone is together. Having one time during the day when the whole crew is together creates an easy way for issues that come up to be addressed, opinions to be voiced, and decisions made. The time becomes a forum for all things that relate to the community.

Recreation an Essential Part of Living
Our lives on earth are not one hundred percent devoted to our work, so neither must our lives on the moon. Play is a built in part of our lives, it's the reason Alan Shepard snuck a 6-iron onto the Apollo 14 mission. Researchers living in polar regions for extended periods of time devote a significant portion of their efforts towards activities designed to increase morale, reduce monotony, and bring people together. Even things as simple as board games, or watching movies and television can be effective at reducing monotony, as well as more elaborate things like putting on a play or musical performance. What matters isn't the activities, but that there are things to do besides work and sit around. Play is a built in part of our lives, it's the reason we hit golf balls on the moon.

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