Infrastructure is architecture: the overlooked half of the problem

UE Entwerfen Space Architecture: Large Orbital Space Structures | Marina Konstantatou (Foster + Partners)

Space architecture becomes truly real when it stops being a single object and becomes an ecosystem. A long-term presence requires infrastructure. This is also why space architecture is increasingly defined not by iconic “bases,” but by networks of interdependent modules. This lecture will focus on recent Foster + Partners projects in which habitats and infrastructure are co-dependent and designed together as one integrated system.

Marina Konstantatou

Marina is an associate partner at Foster + Partners and an industrial fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In her hybrid role spanning industry and academia, she is based at the Specialist Modelling Group (SMG) at F+P and the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge.

As a design systems analyst and SMG research lead, she specialises in form-finding, architectural geometry, and innovation. She is contributing to space architecture, advanced manufacturing, and robotics projects including NASA- and ESA-funded research on lunar and orbital extra-terrestrial infrastructure.

Marina has a background in applied mathematics and physics, after which she specialised in computational design at the Architectural Association, and civil engineering at the University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD from the Department of Engineering on ‘Geometry-based structural analysis and design’.