Honorary Mention - Neo Genesis Seed - Project Hyperion
I’m pleased to announce that Neo-Genesis Seed, our team’s entry to the Project Hyperion design competition, has been selected for Honorable Mention. The final feedback from the jury reads as follows:
“Neo-Genesis Seed presents a usefully novel design that balances conceptual depth with practical simplicity. Its drum-shaped architecture, featuring an ellipsoidal pressure vessel, reflects a sound approach to both structural integrity and artificial gravity. The design avoids unnecessary complexity while still incorporating a number of thoughtful and feasible features. Notably, the pressure vessel concept is robust, though the reliance on a single large volume highlights the need for an articulated emergency protocol in the event of a pressure breach—an area worth further development. The thermal management system is particularly distinctive, proposing a creative solution that acknowledges the limitations of convection in an artificial gravity environment. The submission’s strength lies in its integration of biocultural systems, ecological logic, and generational storytelling. This holistic perspective on human resilience, mental health, and societal continuity positions Neo-Genesis Seed as a standout in conceptual vision. ”
The highest priority of our team was designing with scientific feasibility as our north star. All the design decisions in our submission were made through this practical lens, including our main design move: an insistence on low-technology. I strongly stand by this design move, as I think the arguments against the unnecessary inclusion of high technology are too convincing to ignore. If there is one consideration I hope our submission has contributed to the conversation, it’s this: If an isolated settlement’s survival is dependent on technology it cannot replicate, that population will ultimately fail.
Finally, I want to congratulate the other Honorable Mentions as well as the winning teams. This competition was an ambitious venture for any team, and simply completing a satisfying submission is something all teams should be proud of. It would be an honor to participate in such an ambitious competition in the future.
