SPACE STUDIO Mars and Architecture Beyond the Atmosphere
Are we suggesting real projects to be completed, or are we simply speculating? Are we making science or science fiction? What is the difference? What does interdisciplinary really mean? In a world full of complex problems, what is or can be the role of the architect? Through the lens of the extreme, what is it that truly matters to each of us as a designer: human culture, physical comfort, psychological or social structures, sustainability, systems integration?
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.� - Carl Sagan
Project Dandelion, 203
Mitosis V Olympu
Verical Deconstruction Marte Vallis, 2020
Port City Olympis Mons
Summinting Mars Base of Olympus Mons, 2100
Project Dandelion, 2030
Generation A1 Mars global, 2150
30 Mitosis Village Mission Tempe Terra 2033-2045
Village Mission us Mons 2033-2045 Mars Machine, Schaparelli Crater
Project Dandelion, 2030
LAB[yrinth] [at] CELL[eration]
Tharsis Montes:Pavonis Mons, 2052
Alvarium
Valles Marineres, 2160
Transuluscent Mounds Meridiani Planum, 2050
Barchania_Alpha Tyrrania Terra, 2120 Project Dandelion, 2030
Mitosis Village Mission Hellas Planitia 2033-2045
ANA
SARAH
RICHARD
JEREMY
GABE
EUGENE
VICTORIA
CLARA
KWANPO
JENNY
JEAN
CMU Space Architects 2016
EARTH(MARS)WORK
What is the tradeoff between building with local materials versus bringing in re-fabricated structures? What methods and equipment is necessary to construct large scale structures with sediment? What are the extent of possibilities for working with this material? What is the difference in timescale between human occupation and geological time?
Dunes, Tyrrhena Terra, 2016
Hellas Planitia/Tyrrhena 2120
Barchania_Alpha // Kwanpo Cheung The idea of living on Mars has been explored time and time again since Ray Bradbury’s science-fiction fantasies. As human technology slowly catches up, these fantasies may soon become a startling reality for which we architects must design. Barchanica_Alpha is the imagining of a Martian life from the Earther immigrants’ point of view from their survival to their recreation to modes of living – and ultimately to their purpose in life cycle. It is extremely expensive to bring materials from Earth to Mars, so a majority of Martian items are built in-situ. To sustain a global economy free of Earth dependency, Martians will have to manufacture their own resources – therefore, a majority of homes are clustered around major settlements aimed at fulfilling specific purposes in the larger scheme. Some settlements specialize in water acquisition and conversion while others process raw materials like iron and silicon into products. The stone building materials are made from sulfurous concrete, a relatively new construction technology.
Barchania_A is the first of many settlements in the Martian future dedicated to energy harvest through solar and ionic productions. Large solar farms collect energy from the sun and long strings of durable graphene siphon power from electrically charged particles in the dusty atmosphere. Enormous facilities collect and store excess energy in batteries or use energy to convert raw goods into hydro-carbon fuels, Barchania’s chief export. Surrounding the facilities are private homes. They are built against artificial sand dunes that serve as solar flare protection. Expansions to the settlement are made in long lines that redirect wind and particles to ion collectors. Each home has three bedrooms; a dining quarter, an exercise room, a work area, and various mechanical rooms. More public rooms are made of translucent fabrics that permit light but offer relatively less protection; therefore the inhabitants must follow a strict calendar that
charts solar radiation intensity and take refuge in their bedrooms at the appropriate times. It is important for every member of the home to fulfill their responsibilities because of the potential life-threatening consequences of neglect. The structural integrity of the walls and inflatables must be checked at least once every two days. Every day, someone from the family would tend the plants and animals or brush the dust off the solar panels. Children and teenagers would most likely spend time in an educational inflatable while their parents worked, reuniting later when dinner is prepared. A ways down the line is the farm where each family raises their own set of chickens, fish, and crops, doubling as a natural biological oxygen synthesizer. This is where food is prepared to keep higher-risk activities separate from the home. Cooked food would be transported to the eating quarters where families would eat together. This act would become a long-standing social tradition of sharing and love, a symbol of Martian hospitality.
Meridiani Planeum, 2016
Meridiani Planum 2050
Transluscent Mounds // Eugene Jahng The project revolves around 3D printing a habitat in space. Martian soil contains sulfur, and the regolith and sulfur can be used to make sulfur concrete. Using this sulfur concrete and 3D printing techniques such as contour crafting or Minibuilders, the project aims to create a permanent structure on Mars for residents. Instead of bringing everything from Earth, resources on site can be utilized for efficient construction. Martian concrete, which has been tested and proven by numerous studies, is 100% recyclable in that it can be melted by reheating, which then allows for the structure to expand vertically by continuing to add more layers on to the top of previous floors. Using robots that require no supervision or communication and construct 3D structures using a collective intelligence, the first layer is constructed for life support systems. Once the structure is sound and the first humans arrive, the second layers are built for growing plants as well as generating oxygen. When the ‘lungs’ of the building are proven successful, the final layers are built for the inhabitants’ living spaces. Life support racks are placed in the center of each space, with projectors and interactive holograms replacing the need for screens or monitors. Instead of a temporary structure for survival, this would be a permanent solution, where inhabitants and future residents would contin-
ue living in the space for the remainder of their lives. The end goal of this project would be complete independence from Earth where there no longer is need to transport resources back and forth but Mars as itself can be used to live. This technology can be applied to conditions on Earth as well, by developing autonomous robots that can remotely build on its own in habitats where human access can be difficult until a habitat is established. It can be used in areas difficult to transport materials to, in which just the equipment can be transferred to the area and in situ materials are used to build. 3D printed buildings have been mentioned continuously from the past, as is 3D printing technology. D-shape and contour crafting
are all pre-existing methods of 3D printing as are Minibuilders, all of which have been suggested to be used for construction. These can be developed further to create buildings faster and more efficiently, as well as autonomously, for quick builds in rural areas of need of shelters. Once it has been determined that there is material in the area, there would be no need to transport construction materials, and buildings can be constructed on site using the local environment.
Marte Vallis, Basalt formations
Marte Vallis, Elysium Planetia 2020
Vertical Deconstruction // Jenny Wong For the past millennia, humans have lived their lives relying heavily on the advancements in technology, from the earliest manmade tools during the Stone Age to the discovery of fire-making to everything we have today that make our lives easier and more comfortable. However, the convenience of these innovations seemed to have hindered, or maybe even stopped, the possible evolution or changes in the human body. We have developed medication to treat the sick body, vaccinations to prevent potential illnesses, heating and cooling systems to condition the surrounding temperature for the body, All these inventions used to tailor an ideal environment for the human body has prompted many hypothetical questions regarding the human body. What are the limits to our bodies without all these technologies? Are our bodies capable of developing and growing out of the conventions we had set for ourselves on Earth? To what extent? The goal of my project is to push the limits of the human body and understand how it can physically and mentally adapt to a new environment. The mission objective is to
establish a program within a settlement, involving a sustainable closed loop system to provide supplies essential for human survival, that experiments with and prepares the human body for adaptation to the Martian environment. The first step in achieving this mission is to find a site on Mars that is most ideal for the initial human body. The geographic condition found on Mars similar to that of Earth’s is cliffs formed by basalt columns resulting from cooled down molten rocks. The material property of basalt can shield radiation and provide good thermal insulation. The verticality of the columns also makes them structurally strong. Excavating into the basalt cliffs to create cave architecture results in an enclosure best suited for the human body. As the settlement expands, the architectural enclosure would slowly transform and deconstruct in a way so that the body will get more and more exposed to the extremity of the Martian environment. Slowly exposing the human body through deconstruction in the architecture can possibly give us an answer to the question: Where can we find the balance between the development of architecture versus the adaptability of the human body?
DEPLOYABLE What is the tradeoff between building with local materials versus bringing in pre-fabricated structures? What is the balance between resources used in-situ and closed loop systems in whole? What is our relationship to the landscape if we are enclosed within a system? How big is big enough? How small is small enough? How long are we here for?
Olympus Mons, above cloud cover
Base of Olympus Mons 2100
Summiting Mars
// Jeremy Lu
The great challenge for any climber is to conquer each continent’s tallest peak. But tomorrow’s climbers can consider a far more extreme challenge: leaving Earth to climb the tallest peak of our solar system. Reaching the summits of Earth’s tallest mountains was one of the great adventures of the 20th Century. With Earth rapidly running out of peaks to summit, the adventurer of the next century is going to have to look to the stars for new climbing challenges. As a metaphor; Olympus Mons is simple and pure, man versus nature, it approaches a universal understanding of our primal desire to challenge ourselves and will eternally stand as a symbol for our triumph and failure. An object of fascination, Olympus Mons is a trophy for the next generation, a top tier challenge for explorers, and digs at our primordial need to conquer. Using modular based design, a leave no trace behind logic is applied to all climber’s daily lives and living habits. The modular pods t themselves can easily inflate and deflate when the time comes to leave Mars. Using recycling pods to recycle human waste into usable resources allows little if nothing to beleft on the surface of Mars when we depart.
Pavonis Mons, 2016
Tharsis Montes: Pavonis Mons 2052
LAB[yrinth] [at] CELL[eration] // Sarah Bannerman My project is a self-sustaining inflatable human settlement on mars surface powered by renewable resources. This settlement will function as a laboratory that would conduct research on the surface as well as in the atmosphere. As this habitat grows and spreads on the mars surface and we learn more about its resources and cohabitation. Within this environment Museums will be developed and placed within the system. Museums tell the story the world and how humanity has survived in its environment over the years. Museums are seen as places where unwanted objects or materials are deposited, in this design the term museum will be redefined. In this case, museums must become agents of change and development: they will mirror events in society and become instruments of progress by calling attention to actions and events that will encourage development in this Martian society. The first mission to mars would be located in the volcanic region of Tharsis Montes because of the higher potential of Geo/Aero-thermal energy from Mars core. In addition the site is located near the equator, which has fewer drastic temperature changes.
My design is unique in that it places an emphasis on a core area within the larger system. These tempered spaces within a larger faรงade are used to generate outdoor like spaces and circulation. The more public spaces are still within the main structure but are organized in way that feels as if you were outside. My design best fits under exploration and research. The whole system is based on the idea that we will eventually be able to survive on mars with little to no resources from earth and possibly find a resource on mars that would improve conditions on earth. The challenges of living on the Mars surface is radiation, little resources, subzero temperatures, low pressure, gravity and no oxygen. My design addresses these conditions in various ways. Radiation is addressed with a membrane within the settlement or a space suit as you leave the radiation barrier. The lack of resources is addressed with life support systems that look into the production of oxygen and water; also solar panels and wind turbines are used to collect energy for maintain the larger system. Lastly, for temperature control there is an environmental control system and a membrane within the larger system that is a thermal barrier and like with arctic temperatures on earth thick clothing is used to keep warm. In the future this structure would grow and respond to the conditions on mars. These nodes/nuclei will have the main life support systems and generate the power needed to sustain the whole system. In addition, my design hopes to encourage larger leaps in the development of renewable technology. Very little of the power we use on earth is renewable and in my design I hope to focus more on renewable resources and closed loop systems that reduce waste in our ecosystem. This research on sustainable systems with humans could possible be used to improve human life on earth.
INFRASTRUCTURE
What scale of material and energy is needed to survive? to support individuals? Is it different for groups? for cultures? What do we need to take from our environment? What material or energy do we return to our environment? What is waste? Does material need purpose? What is the scale at which we can re-use material? What is the appropriate scale of infrastructure? What is sustainable? What are some formal distribution strategies? What are the different values of these strategies? What cultural conditions do they produce? What is the relationship between survival and sustainable?
Schaperelli Crater, 2016
Shacaprelli Crater, 2050
Mars Machine
//Clara Lee
Mars various
Mars various, 2030
Project Dandelion
//Gabriel Jose Vidal-Hallett
Mission Statement:
The qualities of curiosity and pioneering spirit drove Spaniards across the seemingly endless frontier of the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. In 1969 that same insatiable hunger launched NASA’s Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin out of the safety of our home planet and across desolate space to The Moon. These feats mark landmark achievements of exploration that have since served to expand our cultural, scientific and economic horizons. Mars is our nearest hospitable planetary neighbor and our most feasible next point for expansion for a plethora of reasons. These reasons include research, a safety net for earthly failure and galactic tourism among a host of others. It is undeniable that people will eventually occupy Mars. The only question remaining is who will be the first to lead us. Project Dandelion is positioned as the flagship for human life on Mars. The goal of Project Dandelion is to create an autonomous habitat for Mars’ first settlers, and a calculated system for healthy growth and expansion as more humans arrive. Researchers at Project Dandelion will explore Mars and work to optimize human shelters on Mars. Through an iterative process we will learn how to optimize human life on other terrestrial bodies. This is the first iteration. Project Dandelion aims to provide a sustainable source of oxygen, water, energy and nutrition on Mars prior to the arrival of the first human team. On top of these bodily necessities, the project also seeks to meet the minimum necessities of the human psyche in terms of spatial and experiential qualities. The ultimate goal is to create a desirable and fulfilling place to live, an appetizing oasis in Mars’ unearthly environment.
Why the peculiar shape? The Dandelion’s structure and deployment sequence are inspired by that of a maple seedpod or an actual dandelion seed. In order to hit the Martian surface with force upon impact and thus trap a pressurized bubble of regolith (inorganic soil) within its dome-shaped pinnacle. The 125’ foundation at the structure’s center digs deep into the planet and provides the possibility for geothermal power generation on a planet where oil is non-existent, solar power is significantly weaker than Earth’s and there is insufficient atmosphere to provide wind power. Dandelion pods trap a one hundred foot radius bubble of Martian regolith with breathing room for atmosphere and plant life. Archaea (microbial creatures that feed perchlorates and produce oxygen and chlorine as waste) are released into the pressurized bubble to digest and neutralize the toxic perchlorates in the regolith. The microbes release oxygen gas as their waste and provide nutrients to the regolith as generations of their bodies decompose. Archaea provide the organic ‘groundwork’ for plant life to survive in Martian soil. They are also capable of purifying most of the toxins in the briny Martian water.
After an unknown amount of time for the purification process, Martian atmosphere is pumped into the pods to provide CO2 and raise the pressure to 1 atmosphere (earthly pressure). Dormant buckwheat, pea, and soy seeds among other plant seeds are released into the Dandelion pods. These seeds are ideal for oxygen production and human nutrition. By the time humans have arrived resources for human life are in sustainable production. How do people fit into the equation? People will not live in the pods; the pods are deployed as an infrastructural system or oases with multiple ports for living vessels (Martian trailer homes) to plug in. When a vessel plugs in, it refuels, re-oxygenates, re-hydrates and allows people to enter the leafy oases of the pod. An array of seven Dandelion pods provides a suitable infrastructure for approximately 15-30 people to survive comfortably with ample redundancy of space and resources.
Olympus Mons
Shallow Slopes of Olympus Mons
Mars Port City
// Victoria Pai
In the far future, Mars is a port-planet made of clusters of port-cities. Given its location between the inner and outer planets, it is a destination for cargo to be traded. In this vision of the Martian future, the landing ellipse is a conceptual driver for the emergence of cities. Because cargo can only land within several kilometers of a specific target, the ellipse lends itself to become a linear boundary along which humans inhabit. Wherever the cargo lands inside of the elliptical void determines the location of an emergent port-city along the closest point on the ellipse. As the landing ellipse shrinks with time, the cities also creep inward to fill the ellipse void. The port-cities are entirely dependent on other planetary resources for life support (food, water, air supply), which is delivered in replaceable containers. Each city, therefore, is representative of the larger entities that provide daily sustenance for human life. Governmental and privatized corporation sponsorship of Martian civilization epitomizes the political and economic competition that drives any human city on Earth.
Valles Marineres
Valles Marineres 2160
Alvarium
// Richard Chou
“Complex adaptive behavior is the result of interactions between organisms.” [Collective Intelligence] Alvarium is a biomimetic computational approach to Architecture and urban design. The project revolves around the concept termed “collective intelligence”, as it uses biopolitical behaviors to challenge issues of human exploration and urbanism. Alvarium presents an environmentally aware and responsible way of engaging with the human environment. The project is an ambitious proposal of the employment of collective intelligence at macro-scale (urban network), micro-scale (living unit), and the many scales in-between. [Collective Exploration] The project focuses on explorations in Martian surface analysis and optimization simulation as means of speculating human development of an adaptive passive habitation design. The project site, Valle Marineris, was
chosen due to its latitudinal position (proximity to equator and warmth), geological depth (deepest point responds to highest atmosphere), and Regions of Interest (canyon layers provide historical records to Mar’s history). Taking various satellite data maps published by NASA, geographic and atmospheric information were compiled and fed into an evolutionary optimization component. A map of Valles Marineris was subdivided into evaluation points, and each data point represents a possible starting point of a city, along with a “rating” in accordance to analysis. This optimization modeling marks the hypothetical ideal landing point, and all other points displayed in respective lower-threshold maps describe the “environmentally aware” intelligent progression of a growing human settlement. [Collective Infrastructure] Once the location was found, further simulation demonstrated a network of exploration rovers specialized in environmental analysis to establish a network of Martian bases. These rovers, while given difficult objectives, share information and resources among each other, mimicking swarm behavior that cooperate to achieve their objectives. As the project continues to zoom in its scope, concepts of collective intelligence is applied to design a city that is self-sustaining yet distributive. The proposed city is designed via a hierarchy of scales: Individual, Unit, Community, Sector, Borough, and City. Inspired by the data-driven approach to “MetaCity/ Datatown” by MVRDV, enclosed ecosystems throughout multiple scales are achieved through reimagined infrastructure and resource systems. [Collective Utopia] This project challenges the current socio-economic segregation evident in many cities and explores innovative ways for Martian settlements to thrive collectively. As Architecture inherently defines the interactions of its inhabitants, the design of the first Martian city strives to provide insight to current challenges in urbanism. To quote: “... a truly ‘ecological’ project, rather than resulting from an architectural formalism, must instead emerge from the multiple systems of nature that prefigure it: it is now the task of the architect to identify spatial systems of nature,” Alvarium is the speculation of an unconventional urbanism, vernacular to the Martian environment and space-faring human settlers. It urges the audience to reflect current infrastructure and urban lifestyles of our current cities, and how they may adapt and reform in the future, one with more technology and knowledge but less space and resource.
ALTERNATIVE
We are traveling to a new world, in a whole new context. What new frames of reference will this open up in how we think about our world and our constructed environment? What new areas of design do we take on? Is the architect only the designer of buildings? or of systems? or of bodies? or of technology?
Mars, global
Mars global, 2150
Generation A1 // Jean Kim Generation A1 is about the evolution of an entirely new generation of bodies that have evolved out of what is keeping them from living in environments such as Mars. The generation has evolved from homosapiens today so they have adapted to live on the climate of mars. I have researched the extremes in which our bodies can adapt to through genetic modification, adaption, etc. and found out what things we cannot adapt out of. With the categories we cannot adapt out of, I would like to propose a design for how architecture will assist the generation in order to live on Mars. I am looking at designs of suits and mechanical body prosthetics that have assisted the lives of humans on Earth, and look into how it could assist the lives of the new generation on Mars. The design of the project will work as an extension of the body of the martians in order to provide assistance in survivability and livability. Pressure, Oxygen, and Water are the three categories that the bodies will not be able to evolve out of, so the design of the suit will in some way provide those three functions for the martian. The suit will eventually determine the lifestyle of the martians, the architecture of their environment, as well as their culture of life.
My design will begin a city on Mars and allow for there to be a natural evolution process spawning from beings that are not humans like us. Civilization on Mars will be an entirely new beginning that is unlike life on Earth, thus however the city will evolve on Mars, it will be in a natural way similar to how homosapiens have evolved on Earth. I came up with the idea with an initial interest in the body and its relation to environments. In a completely foreign environment such as Mars, the possibilities are endless but also extremely unpredictable. I was curious at how much research and knowledge we really have about Mars and whether it is enough to be able to predict as accurately as possible as to what life could be like on Mars. But also mostly, I am passionate about researching and learning more about outer space and the technological advances that can evolve from it.
Because generation A1 is spawning from homosapiens, there will be certain functions that cannot be eliminated. The three main challenges that my design will address is how to get pressure, oxygen, and water to the body on Mars. Once the body has evolved to its extent, the architecture will be the assist to the other three functions that human bodies cannot live without. And from that, a cultural timeline will begin and determine how settlements will be formed. My design cannot be used immediately on Earth and will not improve human life condition on Earth. It is a design that is specifically designed for bodies on Mars and a re-engineered form of body that it ideal for Mars’ environment and not on Earth. Rather than improving human life conditions on Earth, my design is looking at begin-
Tempe Terra
Hellas Planitia
Olumpus Mons
Olympus Mons Tempe Terra
Hellas Planitia
The Mitosis Village Mission
//Ana Mernik
My project views Mars as a blank canvas where reliable experiments can be made about the results of architecture on both productivity and happiness of its occupants, or, both engineering and human factors. More broadly, we will test the effects of Mars on the human psychology and the effect of humans on the Mars biology. I’m interested in the balance of passive systems with active ones for redundancy, and innovation in hightech equipment and digital tools with low-tech executions that guarantee safety and success. I’m also intrigued by the similarities of the ISS Life Support diagram and LEED Sustainability checklist - my design attempts to test unconventional sustainability methods and bring successful ones back to Earth. A series of aggregations with slight variances will be tested in each of the four settlement phases: the first is composed of an entirely closed system whose primary concern is survival of the crew; the second looks at the interior distribution of rooms for the pioneer group and their activities relative to one another; the third experiments with connections made between these modules for an entire community; and the fourth deals with an entire village that examines what happens when communities are sep-
2033 plant shipment 2035 phase 1 2037 phase 2 2040 plant shipment material shipment phase 3 2045 phase 4
The Nest The Hut The Hab The Village
arated by distances and the outdoors. The idea is that as the settlement grows, spaces are repurposed for the construction of the next phase, and that, by the end of the last stage, the loop closes in on itself, with no trace left behind. My design does not only look for the overlap between human needs, even comfort, and sustainable practices, the project concept is itself an experiment, a test, of finding optimal living conditions on Mars. Incremental steps are taken to ensure a steady and “correct” environment and growth. The project’s collected data is to not only provide more knowledge about planet Mars, it is to serve as a precedent to all future missions for their settlement design. (And an example for better practices here on Earth!) The concept was most influenced by Stan Allen’s From Object to Field and inspired by Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. The former brought to life the idea of testing a series of similar elements while emphasizing connections between these elements; the latter intrigued with the idea that besides organizing spaces as a quadrant with a “private” to “public” axis and a “group” to “individual” axis (used by NASA), they can be organized based on “time of day” and their “duration”, and levels of “activity” and amount of specialized “equipment.” My project best fits the exploration category, while the result of finding optimal living conditions set as the goal of the mission will benefit the settlement category in the future. The design tackles Martian challenges of balance: environmental constraints with human needs (survivability versus comfortability), what the mission is bringing from Earth and what it will extract from Mars, what parts of the martian environment are controlled and what are left as wildcards, and the roles of digital versus physical tools.
Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture Spring 2016