Science Fiction Film as Design Scenario Exercise for Psychological Habitability: Production Designs 1955-2009

Scenario building presents a valuable tool for the development of design concepts for unprecedented long-duration space missions. Aside from quantitative modelling techniques, one medium that routinely illustrates scenarios through speculative but manifested design concepts is science fiction (SF) film. Set and prop design in such films are sometimes the product of consulting, research and development efforts by multi-disciplinary teams comparable to, or including experts from, technical groups conducting pre-concept studies in the field of human space exploration. This paper presents results from a study into the production design of SF films, with special focus on the psychological challenges of extended spaceflight. The aim was to provide preliminary insight into the potential validity and application of SF film design in the context of scenario building for space, in particular at pre-phase-A stage of the system development process. The study consisted of two parts: the focus of the first was the systematic identification of a relevant set of SF productions and the description of products, environments and interactions portrayed in the films according to habitability criteria set out in the literature. The second part involved an illustrative case study reconstructing, from previously unpublished archive material, the main conceptualisation stages of the design of the food dispensing system in one particular film from the sample set, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is suggested that, in the particular case examined, the process of film production design development can be regarded as a space design study. The findings indicate that SF films offer a set of rich and detailed cases of design concepts and design issues that are of possible interest in the planning of long-duration missions. Concepts can be situated at the periphery of the range of traditional bodies of reference available to the system development process; issues can act as critical impulse of debate into future user needs and wants, thus helping increase the robustness of traditional scenarios. However, for this fictional approach to be truly meaningful and effective in a space scenario building context, future exercises should be conducted based on agendas set by space mission, rather than film, planners.