Maggie Coblentz

I thought that was such a weird question and really stretched my imagination.

So investigating the design of the International Space Station and how it's built, what's inside, what kind of furniture do they have, what are the spacesuits like, what is the food like, how does this inform the way that they can conduct their work, how they bring culture up there, the systems in place, who's allowed to go, who's not allowed to go because of these different

designed objects in zero gravity and how everything flips on its head once you get to space.

So as a designer and artist, someone who loves to make things, this entire process changes in zero G. So with food, it's fluid dynamics.

Do you need to be strapped to the wall while you eat or while you conduct your work?

This was my entry point as a designer.

For me, I was going off of photos when I started this investigation.

So I was looking at things online and interviewing people and a lot of anecdotal insights from astronauts just to describe in their own words.

what this space looked like.

And then testing came later when I joined a new research lab and started to have access to things like zero G flights.

There must be so much Velcro, right?

There's a lot of Velcro.

Everything's strapped down.

But one of my favorite stories about the ISS, it actually didn't even include a dining table at first.

So it was just thought that these...

Humans, almost treated like robots, were just going to go up there, float around, velcro their food to the walls, strap themselves to the walls while they ate.

And of course, naturally, human beings want to gather.

They want to have a place to come together and enjoy this very limited break in their day.

And so one day, an astronaut just found some scrap piece of material and strapped it to the wall.

to make a table, which really has no practical use in space.