From Frontiers to New Lands, Gibraltar

Through a discussion about past discoveries and conquests of spaces and borders in mankind‘s history, a design for the next typology of conquerism originated: a spaceport, that reuses rockets and let rockets start and land there. Besides this main function resources and goods from space can be processed here in Gibraltar on the spaceport‘s area.

The work of From Frontiers to New Lands is divided into the theoretical part of Fronters and a design called New Lands, which originates from this theory. Frontiers is a catalogue, which discusses the past discoveries and conquests of spaces and borders in mankind‘s history. Therewith originated the thesis, that mankind is ahead of the next jump in scale through technological advancements in an era of the post-globalization. Considering the status quo in space travelling, with the advancements in the private sector, shows the necessity of a new architectural typology in space travelling. In an overall concept a new spaceport tandempartner within a network of others as economical spaceport is needed. By di erent global, geographical, political, technical and klimatic parameters the new spaceport is placed on the exclavical peninsula of Gibraltar, a densed place full of favored infrastructures. Derived from different architectural and infrastructural elements on the pen- insula and space technology a new typology resulted, which can be delivered by rocket parts, process them and start new rockets in space. Arriving probes and resources from space will be tested unter the highest security standards in the labs in the mountain‘s massif. The tunnel systems within the massif is an existing structure from the world wars, which will be conversed to labs. The spaceport consists of a laid steel hall element, the working hall and the rocket bays, at those the steel working hall can be driven up and down, and a massive and enclosured concrete tower for access, mission control, as passage to the massif and for offces. Additionally the main element of the eastern part of the peninsula has a 2,5 km long pier, which connects the spaceport with the starting and landing pad. Within the pier, that also functions as a breakwater, there a the access ways to the pads for the astronauts from the main building.