Wellness Space Hotel, PoliMi, Jacuzzi and Virgin Galactic explore new frontiers in space tourism

Imagining a luxury Wellness Space Hotel that can offer unique experiences in weightlessness, combining comfort and beauty: with this objective Jacuzzi® and Virgin Galactic, – as part of the Space4InspirAction Course – have entrusted themselves to the students of the Polytechnic School of Design of Milan to explore new concepts and solutions for well-being in the space tourism of the future. Space4InspirAction is the first and only Space Design Course in the world recognized and supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), conceived and directed by professors Annalisa Dominoni and Benedetto Quaquaro in 2017 at the Politecnico di Milano within the Master’s Degree in Integrated Product Design of the School of Design of the same Polimi. Space4InspirAction has always involved industrial realities from the private sector to stimulate a constructive confrontation with the aerospace industries and encourage innovation generated by the crossover of knowledge and different technologies. The students, in collaboration with world-famous industrial realities, such as Jacuzzi® in this case, have the opportunity to develop innovative concepts in a fascinating and unique environment such as Space. The main objectives of the Space Design Course are two: the first is to invite students to look at Space, drawing inspiration from it and to imagine new ways of living more comfortable and efficient, starting from the real conditions and requirements defined together with Esa in relation to the programs. strategic planetary exploration; the second is to explore new spin-offs and spin-ins, ie transfers of technologies and spatial behaviors that can be applied to our daily life and improve it and vice versa, terrestrial innovations to be tested in space to increase the quality of life on board the ISS. This year the theme of the Space4InspirAction Course, now in its 5th edition, focused on the design of new exceptional experiences of hospitality and well-being for a space hotel orbiting the Earth in a confined and gravity-free environment. The technical brief supported and detailed by Jacuzzi® contemplated the configuration of a “Wellness Space Hotel” with many services, aimed at encouraging leisure and relaxation for guests, imagining new behaviors and gestures performed in a space without gravity, interfacing with objects of design capable of transforming this atypical condition into an advantage. The most exciting challenge to meet Jacuzzi®’s needs was to investigate the shapes of water in microgravity. The results proposed disruptive solutions, in which water was contemplated in different state variants to explore its behavior: from the solid to the gaseous state, the projects allow experiences that stimulate all the senses, suggest new gestures and interactions possible only in the Space, from which you can enjoy a privileged view of the Earth and experience the “overview effect”. “Design has an important strategic role in spatial planning, a ‘visionary’ role capable of generating innovation and imagining new possible scenarios, in which values ​​such as well-being and sustainability are a priority. And this is true both in Space and on Earth. The designer takes care of the human being, interprets their needs, goes further, sometimes trying to anticipate them: if an astronaut lives and works in a comfortable environment, and with more efficient equipment, his performances increase, and can significantly affect his success of a mission ”, declared professors Annalisa Dominoni and Benedetto Quaquaro, creators and coordinators of the course. “We are satisfied with this wonderful collaboration”, declared Giorgio Terzuolo, Jacuzzi® Brand and Communication Manager Emea & Asia. “Jacuzzi® has always made design, innovation and technology its distinctive elements, offering innovative products and solutions that open new paths and inaugurate new ways of thinking about the bathroom and wellness environment. The collaboration between Jacuzzi® and PoliMi, therefore, is not casual but highly sought-after: both realities in fact share a common vision of design, in particular enhancing pragmatic aspects such as functionality and innovation, without neglecting the visionary and creative suggestions of design, indispensable for explore new paths and identify the solutions of tomorrow “. These, in summary, are the eleven projects carried out by the students of the Politecnico di Milano as part of the Space Design Course Space4InspirAction. G01_Planet Bubble: Collection of inflatable furniture that uses water as a structural material, to offer tourists a unique floating experience in microgravity. The shapes are inspired by the Space Age and the design of the 60s, to offer an immersive experience in which color and light interact with other sensory experiences, with the aim of promoting relaxation. G02_Atlantide: A wellness path allows guests to travel through a “water portal” – which uses the principle of capillarity to let the water slide and keep it adherent to the surfaces, preventing it from starting to disperse and float in the environment – for the purpose to reach a meditation area that offers a unique view of the Earth from Space. G03_One Thousand Nights: This project offers an experience divided into three phases that allows you to (re) discover the Earth from a different perspective: tourists are invited to interact with water in vaporized form and plants, first on the Virgin SpaceShip Galactic, and then in a “water garden” created as an extension of the spaceship, where they can enjoy a breathtaking view towards our planet. G04_Ark: An installation allows you to experience rebirth immersed in a “chrysalis”, a metaphor for the transition between Earth and Space, in which floating in a dark environment and stimulated by sensory stimuli created by rays of light, sound vibrations and water vapors we retrace time in an empty space, which generates a shift into another dimension. G05_BubbleTrouble: This project enhances the oscillations of water in microgravity that changes shape thanks to waves of different vibrational frequencies and goes from being a surface that collects the reflections of light to a set of bubbles that begin to float free in the environment. The immersive experience is amplified by wearable technology that collects water from the central source to concentrate it on specific points of the body and perform a gentle hydromassage. G06_Beyond Perception: Water is used in support of meditative activities to help guests achieve self-awareness. The whole experience takes place in two environments: in the first, jets of water gently massage the sensitive parts of the body thanks to small robots inspired by the shape of the jellyfish, in the second, a contemplative space promotes relaxation and concentration. G07_Space Renaissance: This project proposes to recreate the experience of birth, from the womb to the outside, through a tunnel wrapped in inflatable surfaces that pulsate emitting a warm light while water bubbles are introduced into the environment by special jets. The reward, in the end, is the wonder of looking at Earth from Space, the so-called Overview Effect, a cognitive shift that broadens consciousness. G08_Ray of Cosmos: The multisensory experience of water invites you to float and dance in harmony with the flows of steam, experimenting with new weightless gestures, while the environment of the habitable module comes alive with luminous projections inspired by the rays of light of comets and nebulae, which overlap the external spectacle, thanks to large glass surfaces, creating the ideal conditions to contemplate the universe. G09_Pan: The path recalls the structure of a coral reef, where the water flows on the walls thanks to the adherence by capillarity and the organic forms are heated by soft jets of water that invite guests to live a multisensory experience alternating moments of play, discovery and relaxation. The large window at the end of the habitable module gives the surprise of seeing the Earth from a privileged point of view. G10 Infinite Space Pool: A transparent volume invites you to immerse yourself in a pool that offers an “infinite” view towards the cosmos, where you can float experimenting with new forms and behaviors of water in microgravity. The experience is enriched by postural and chromatic therapies to increase the well-being of the body and mind by promoting relaxation. G11_Spa.ce: A space wellness center offers special body treatments through a path of water walls that enhance the interaction, taking advantage of the lack of gravity and the new forms of water that are created without weight.