The German city of Böblingen outside of Stuttgart is giving Area 51 some spaceship competition. The Sensapolis fun park is now home to a gigantic three-level, 9,000 square foot interactive replica of a spaceship.
Second Solar was constructed to immerse children and adults in preparing for a hypothetical visit to a distant solar system to research inhabitable environments. The ship is equipped with giant engines, a thermal shell to protect the crew and landing runners designed to cope with unknown surface conditions.
Different Futures was tasked with the design and construction of the ship which all had to occur in three and a half months. The team set up a Second Solar blog to track the construction process. The ship contains a host of special features including several three story stainless steel tube slides. The construction process made extensive use of CNC-milling to save time. Half of the exterior was designed on a computer and output by machine as finished panels.
[ via wallpaper ]
