On June 5, 2025, at 9:24 pm Central European Time (CET), architecture will no longer remain an Earth-bound form of artistic expression. With the landing of a Swedish cottage on the moon, it will become the first art form to reach the lunar surface.
Swedish artist Mikael Genberg conceived the idea of taking a house to the moon in 1999, some 26 years ago. His whimsical vision was to take a traditional Swedish country house — a red house with white corners — and put it on the most unreachable place: the moon.
Now, after nearly four months of space travel, that vision is about to become reality when The Moonhouse lands on the moon. The Moonhouse, as the project is called, represents a unique fusion of conceptual art and space travel: one never before attempted.
Unlike other space missions focused on scientific instruments or human exploration, the Moonhouse project aims to deliver a cultural artifact to the moon. The structure itself is a Swedish cottage measuring just eight centimetres in height. While modest in size, it symbolizes a monumental step for art, architecture, and space exploration alike.
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For this, the Moonhouse was launched on January 15, 2025, aboard the Japanese lunar module RESILIENCE, from the Kennedy Space Center. It was placed in front of the TENACIOUS lunar rover, which will scout the lunar surface for the perfect location to place the house when the lander makes touchdown.
The rover is expected to make a soft landing on the moon at 9:24 pm CET on June 5. The tough part will start after the rover has found the ideal spot on the lunar surface. The Moonhouse will have to “make its final jump of 8 cm” to stand upright on the lunar surface. “Only when it stands there, all by itself, will the Moonhouse be truly realized,” says Emil Vinterhav, the Moonhouse’s technical director.
