Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Life Beyond Earth exhibition will take biennale-goers inside a future moon habitat, to give them a taste of lunar settlement in Venice this summer.

The exhibition, which will be located inside Venice’s Arsenale, is a partnership between the architects and the European Space Agency – a collaboration that started in 2018 to develop dwellings for life on the moon.

Renders and architectural models of SOM’s lunar outpost, Moon Village, are on display, but the biggest draw is the full-size model of a habitat. These cylindrical capsules have enough space for up to six people – who would use chrome ladders to get between levels – and are wrapped in an inflatable exterior.

SOM’s Moon Village is designed for the moon’s Shackleton Crater – an area that receives almost constant sunlight, which would be harvested by fields of solar collectors. The Life Beyond Earth exhibition will take place during the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is scheduled to run from 22 May to 21 November.

Kisho Kurakawa’s Capsule House K is set to reopen to the public in Japan