How to Worldbuild Sci-Fi Homes for any Environment
- Casey Hudson
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Sci-fi homes can be like the residences of today. Or they can quietly communicate your world’s uniqueness. But how do you create distinct homes that align with the cultures you’re worldbuilding?
These are the ways to make shelters special to your world–no matter where your characters live.
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How to (World) Build a Sturdy Foundation for a Sci-Fi Home
Writers overlook house design because it’s usually enough to say that a person lives in a house. Let the reader fill in the blanks. I mean, if you’ve seen one house, you’ve seen them all. But, in sci-fi, a person can live anywhere and any way. Which means housing provides a great opportunity to highlight the effect of environment and resources on a civilization’s norms.
Ever read a character’s reminiscence about the weather? Those rainy summer days or hot double suns. While this adds depth to the character and gives some context about the world, it can also show why life is lived in a particular way.
What if those rains are neverending monsoons? Or the two suns are so hot that shade provides little relief? These details would affect locations of major population centers and sheltering strategies. Valleys would get flooded, so high ground may be ideal. Never-ending heat would cause people to rule out plains and wide open spaces. Probably preferring cooler, covered places like caves or underground dwellings.
To explore how your cultures adapted to their environment, you’ll need to define the environment, first. Then, consider if there are special building constraints or advantages. Here, you’ll want to think about things like gravity and magnetism, or planetary phenomena like earthquakes.
How do climate, terrain, and vegetation affect housing structures? What about building materials? And why are those structures and materials ideal?
For instance, the po’ongabel of the Oomfr’crumf Nation are primates native to rainforests. If they choose to live in harmony with their environment, they’ll need to find ways to work with the stability challenges of the forest floor. Plus, they’ll want to make sure their electronics stay dry… they are highly advanced, after all.
To align them with their environment, I’ve chosen to house them in trees. These aren’t just everyday treehouses, though. They are lined with concrete and decorative bamboo to discourage water damage. While gravity and magnetism are not an issue, tree sway is, so these homes are encased within the outer layer of the tree itself. They sway as one with the tree to prevent interior shift.
An interior that’s designed with a symbiotic approach.
How to Outfit Sci-Fi Homes: From Utilities to Technology
Sometimes surprisingly, a home’s interior can spotlight aspects of a culture’s proclivities.
Think about a washer and dryer. They’re pretty hit or miss inside individual apartment units. But commonplace in single-family homes, So what cultural values does this communicate?
First: We consider doing laundry to be routine. Essential, even. So much so, that apartment buildings without in-unit appliances usually have laundry rooms.
The prevalence of laundry appliances also shows that we value money and a sense of responsibility. These ideals are so ingrained that cost and liability are major considerations when thinking about where and how many washers and dryers are installed in multi-family housing.
Not convinced? Imagine washers from a different perspective. Let’s say you lived in a different universe or were a different species. You may question why money has anything to do with completing an essential task. You may not even know what money is. Should it matter whose fault a flood or dryer fire is? For that matter, the idea of wearing clothes or purposely making water undrinkable may seem peculiar.
These are all things we take for granted. But in a sci-fi world, any of these ideas can be played with.
And that’s just appliances. What about utilities? And decor? Furnishings and decorations?
Are any of these things affected by the value systems in your sci-fi world?
Once you understand what type of home you’re creating, look at the utilities within the home. How do they function? And consider how this harkens back to your society’s values or the environment you built in the last section.
This could be anything from low-flow toilets to plumbing in a low gravity environment.
And how does technology wrap into this idea? Think about appliances and telecommunications as well as automation, robotics, and AI. How are they powered and how are they integrated into everyday life?
For the people of the Oomfr’crumf Nation, treehouse living doesn’t force them to compromise technological convenience. You can see that in this early draft excerpt:
“As the teawater roared to a boil, Dreamer glanced at the wall. According to the uplink from Stargazer’s space unit, she normally has a mug of oolong about this time with a bit of sweet on the side. She’d appreciate fresh fruit—a luxury on the station.
“Dreamer rose to grab a jackfruit from outside his window and returned as Stargazer emerged from the hallway.”Stargazer, who lives on a space station, is visiting her on-planet brother. Not only does Dreamer's treehouse accept data from Stargazer’s home, it has been programmed to execute the daily routine that has been recorded about her space home. Additionally, they can enjoy fresh fruit from just outside Dreamer’s window.
Now that we’ve explored turning a house into a home, how do you transform it into a community?
How to Start Worldbuilding Cities with a Sense of Community
Community is about the people around you. And social spaces can help facilitate interaction.
You may have met your first friends at school or in a park. People with similar interests gather at community centers and libraries. Restaurants serve foods that we share. And we enjoy music and shows together.
To create depth with this phase of worldbuilding, explore what “community” means to this society. Remember what your civilization enjoys and/or values. And really unpack what it would mean for them to feel close to someone else. It’s possible that this is a people who prefer solitude, so maybe their “community” spaces are partitioned, soundproof, or even virtual.
Think about what types of spaces in your neighborhood would foster community. Does it make sense to integrate greenspace within the neighborhood? If so, how? And is this an intentional inclusion?
For the Oomfr’crumf Nation, greenspace is one of the most interesting community aspects. As primates who live in trees, the po’ongabel enjoy hanging and swinging–pariculary as children. While the branches of their treehomes are not strong enough to affix an entire apartment pod. These tree limbs are ideal for natural playtime activities. And they are large and plentiful.
So plentiful, that there are ready-made parks available for every half dozen residential units.
I’m actually working on videos describing my worldbuild of these treehouse communities. Plus, Aaron will be building a model of one in the next few weeks. If you’re interested in catching those, be sure to subscribe.
Until next time, stay inspired.
