HOUSTON -- The International Space Station (ISS) is the ultimate in a high-tech haven for humans. But the orbiting complex is a less-than-comfortable place to live and work, say space architects gathered at a special workshop held here at the World Space Congress.

Rod Jones, Deputy manager for Mission, Integration and Operations at the NASA Johnson Space Center, said the space station needs improvement, in terms of making the facility much more habitable.

College dormitory 

The U.S. Laboratory, Destiny, is so crammed with wires, gear and other items, that it has turned out to be a far less attractive environment than was originally hoped. "Every surface is being used for something," Jones said.

Despite the best efforts of well-intentioned designers brought in early to help design the U.S. Laboratory, "all the architecture is obscured," Jones said. For example, each crew has "personalized" the working space, even discarding specially designed restraints, foot holds, etc.

Likening the ISS module to a college dormitory, Jones said, there is considerable clutter gathering as expeditions come and go.

"We got some things rightbut we got a lot of things wrong," Jones said.

Space architect, Matthew Herman of the University of Pennsylvania, said architects must work with engineers in order to contribute to the goals of the projects. Better that than "butting heads with them," he added.

"You have to earn their respect. You have to speak their language for them to listen to you," Herman said.

Regarding overall safety of the station, that remains a number one priority.

"Im not as worried about safety as I am accessibility," NASAs Jones told SPACE.com. Layers of equipment can obscure easy access to backs of panels to perform troubleshooting tasks, he said.

"My highest-level concern is safety. Safety is firstthen maintainability. If you get past those then you start talking about habitabilityand improving the space," Jones said. "Its the next real hurdle," he said.

The now-deorbited Russian Mir space station, as it ended its operational life in space, should have been a forewarning of things to come. It became a rather messy home away from home.

Jones said that few picked up on the message from Mir in regards to habitability.

"We didnt think that far. We said thatll never happen to uswe wont let that happen. But the technology outstripped us," Jones said.

Lessons already learned from designing the ISS -- and how the modules are actually being utilized by crews -- can and should be applied to other habitat designs, say for the Moon and Mars.

"We have so few examples of people living in confined spaces and truly isolated environments. The military has many examples. But, we as civilians, havent done that as much," Jones said.

"There are many things we are learning from this whole process," Jones concluded.