6.120 VI.12: LIVING SPACE DESIGN VI.12.1: Summary: Living space standards proposed in Section V.3.2 set only some general parameters for the creation of the colony lifestyle. Design of the colony community must translate the functional and emotional requirements into a series of habitable spaces framed by suitable structure and serviced by mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic systems. Design of the colonists' community is an important factor in the success of th2 prototype. The extended period in which colonists reside at the colony demands a careful examination of what the colony whould be like, what opportunities for recreation, culture, and communication the colony offers, and what levels of private and semiprivate space are created. The prototype is a small version of larger, future, more populous colonies; it is not an expanded space capsule. The prototype should be conceived more like a small town than a large Skylab. A figure for the colony's total population cannot be established without proposing an attitude toward lifestyle. Is the colony to be populated by unrelated professionals, 25-38 years old, or is it to be made up of sets of extended families with 3 children and 2 sets of grandparents, or some mix of these? If the colony is to be a true prototype and not a space industrial base, the inclusion of nuclear families in the colony is imperative. Average family size in the U.S. is currently about 3.5 (6.20). A working population of 750, which includes 175 families (about 54% of the work force), 300 unrelated 25-38 year old professionals, and 100 older colonists (38 or older), generates a total population of about 1000 people. Colonists would be expected to live long periods of time, perhaps their whole lives, divorced from the Earth environment. The complete cycle of a long-term colonist includes arrival, an initiation and training period, a series of years made up of weeks,made up of days, a close-down period, packing up and moving back (or "on") to another place. Children would be born and raised through their formative years at the colony. Undoubtedly, several people would
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