Xavier De Kestelier

Recognized under Tier 3 — Structural Habitats & Space Architecture, Xavier De Kestelier pioneered the application of computational design and digital fabrication to building habitats on other worlds. As Head of Design Technology at Foster + Partners, De Kestelier led the influential ESA study on 3D-printed lunar and Mars habitats, demonstrating how a robotic 3D printing system could use regolith as raw material to construct a protective shell around an inflatable habitat module. This approach — manufacturing the structure from local materials rather than launching it from Earth — could dramatically reduce the mass and cost of establishing surface habitats on Mars, and De Kestelier's work helped establish its architectural and technical feasibility.