This is not a joke either!
I want you guys to see this.
I`ll be back~! In the meantime.. Here is something to ponder a bit.
ADAPTING TO ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY
Studies indicate that familiarity with gravity is not innate, but is learned in infancy. At 4 months, infants begin to realize that a rolling ball cannot pass through an obstacle, but are not yet aware that an unsupported ball will fall. At 5 months, they discriminate between upward and downward motion. At 7 months, they show sensitivity to gravity and the "appropriate" acceleration of a ball rolling upward or downward. By adulthood, falling objects are judged to move naturally only if they accelerate downward on a parabolic path. These judgments are based not on mathematical reasoning, but on visual experience; when asked to reason abstractly about such motion, many adults are prone to error.14-16
Gravity underpins the sense of direction. Six directions on three axes are innately perceptible: up-down (height), left-right (breadth), and front-back (depth). The anisotropic character of this space is judged by the effort required to move in any given direction. On Earth, up and down are distinct irreversible poles, while left, right, front, and back are interchangeable simply by turning around. Thus, in Earth gravity, there are three principal directions - up, down, and horizontal - and three basic architectural elements - ceiling (or roof), floor, and wall.
These common-sense ideas, rooted in the experience of terrestrial gravity, permeate architectural theory. Thiis-Evensen builds his entire grammar around the three elements of floor, wall, and roof.17 Habitat design for a gravitational environment distinctly different from Earth's requires a fundamental reexamination of terrestrial design principles. The goal is not to mimic Earth, but rather, to help the inhabitants adapt to the realities of their rotating habitat.
In artificial gravity, the effects of Coriolis acceleration and cross-coupled rotation arise only during relative motion within the rotating habitat. While stationary, one may forget about these effects - only to be rudely reminded of them when rising out of a chair, lifting a piece of equipment, or turning to the side. It's possible to minimize these effects by planning activities to avoid off-axis motion. Where off-axis motion is unavoidable, one may arrange things to provide inhabitants with the best mechanical advantage with respect to the Coriolis acceleration.
One may also strive to keep the inhabitants passively oriented to the rotation of their habitat, allowing them to prepare themselves for the consequences of their actions.
Hesselgren constructs his architectural theory on the foundations of perception psychology.18,19 He describes "transformation tendencies" between various senses, whereby a perception in one modality may produce a mental image of a perception in another. For example, visual texture gives rise to a mental image or expectation of tactile grain. One modality that he never discusses, which is taken for granted on Earth but cannot be in space, is vestibular perception. It might be possible, through experience in a properly designed habitat, to acquire a transformation tendency to vestibular perception from visual, acoustic, haptic, or other perceptions. The goal is not to induce motion sickness by the mere sight of some visual cue. Rather, it is to provide visual or other reminders that motion relative to these cues will result in certain inescapable side effects, inherent in the artificial gravity. These perceptual cues would act as signals, triggering adaptive coordination in the inhabitants. From the designer's point of view, a consistent vocabulary of such signals would have to arise from convention. From the inhabitants' point of view, these conventions might to some extent be taught, but the unconscious transformation to a vestibular image would rely on association based on direct experience.
As to the kinds of cues that might be provided, that's open to debate. They might be as banal as stenciled labels: "This end up"; "This end forward". They might be more refined and symbolic, engaging multiple facets of perception such as advancing and receding colors and bas-relief shapes.
In a one-off design, it might be argued that no special cues are necessary. As long as the habitat is asymmetrical, the inhabitants will come to recognize, for example, that the galley is fore and the lab is aft. On the other hand, if the habitat comprises several chambers, it may still be beneficial to provide consistent cues to orientation that carry through from one chamber to the next.
