Lavatopia envisions a true utopian world embedded in the lava tube skylight in Philolaus Crater located near the North Pole. The global project, “Lunar Village” has launched to establish a permanent human civilization in space. Lavatopia addresses the third phase of this ambitious project and establishes a closed-loop habitat utilizing a lava tube skylight and water ice found within the lava tubes. After the implementation of the first one, multiple structures will be placed in other lava tube skylights and create a utopian city through the interconnected lava tubes underneath. Lavatopia will be the fundamental base for the construction of the permanent habitat in the space that can be implemented in Mars and other planets in the future.

Water is the key element to sustain any life, anywhere. Lavatopia creates a cyclical water filtration system to preserve one of the moon's most precious resources. The structure, a porous dome constructed of regolith-mix concrete, encloses and sustains the habitat below. The “main trunk“, a vertical element extending from the dome through the center of the research center, will initially extract the water ice from deep inside the lava tubes. Once extracted, the water ice is transported and circulated through the exterior shell to protect the habitat and provide thermal stability. Heated water is brought down through “branches” to supply the aquaponics and the domestic living pods. The resulting gray water will be purified and re-frozen in the storage chambers at the bottom of the structure -- and the cycle will repeat.

At the moon surface, the lava tube skylight shelters the aquaponic agricultural system which houses experiments for food production in space. Glistening droplets of water trickle down through the branches to create a surreal experience that is only available within Lavatopia.