A course at the University of Calgary has Masters students building homes for Martian explorers
In August, 2016, NASA awarded six contracts to companies to develop habitats for astronauts on Mars to support their ambition to establish a human colony on the planet
A course at the University of Calgary has Masters students building homes for Martian explorers
In August, 2016, NASA awarded six contracts to companies to develop habitats for astronauts on Mars to support their ambition to establish a human colony on the planet by 2030. In September, 2016, SpaceX revealed its plan for a manned mission to Mars by 2022.
As the race to the Red Planet heats up, architects are starting to seriously consider what a habitable human colony there could look like and the University of Calgary has been fuelling the debate with a new course for Masters students called Mars Studio.
“Students have been working on two projects in the studio over the past three months,” course instructor Jessie Andjelic says, “firstly to design a temporary settlement for up to six people for the year 2030 and secondly to design a settlement for up to 100 people for 2050. In preparation for that, we spent time considering what the opportunities on Mars might be; why would we go there and what the environmental considerations would be to establish life there.”
The course has had six guest lecturers including a NASA Space Architect and the university’s chancellor, former Canadian Space Agency astronaut, Dr. Robert Thirsk. Dr. Thirsk holds the record for the longest space flight by a Canadian with 188 consecutive days in orbit in 2009.
“We’re already starting to consider what is the next human space flight endeavour beyond the international space station and it will likely be the moon,” Dr. Thirsk says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a Moon habitat 10 years from now which would be a stepping stone to Mars, which is widely recognized as the ultimate destination.”
“There are two planets in our solar system which have the potential to sustain life, one is earth and the other is Mars,” he continues. “I would envision a habitat on Mars 20 years from now.”
Dr. Thirsk says he believes space architecture is “set to be a blossoming field” and he’s “tremendously excited that the University of Calgary is at the forefront of that.”
His own experiences living in space orbit formed the basis of his lecture to students.
“Architects would do the astronauts a great service if they could design habitats that reminded us of home, of family, of nature and appeal to all five of our senses,” he explains. “By definition, an expedition to Mars would be a minimum of 2 1/2 years in length. If we could hear the ocean waves and smell cedar and lilac and touch natural surfaces and not just cold steel, that would really help aspects of psychological stability.”
Ms. Andjelic, who is a founding partner at Spectacle Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism, agrees architecture would be an important “bridge” between astronauts and Earth.
“From Mars, planet Earth would be just a star in the sky and conversations with Earth would come with at least a three minute delay,” she says. “So, for those first settlements there would definitely be a desire to create familiarity. We spent a lot of time looking at how to adapt typologies from earth to create a sense of connection and belonging for that first generation of settlers.”
“We also had students consider vernacular architecture so, when you’re bringing everything from Earth and all of your materials and reliance is still on Earth, how do you create a meaningful connection with a new planet?,” she continues.
Dr. Thirsk speculates that aesthetics will also be driven by functionality, at least initially.
“The first buildings on Mars certainly won’t look like cathedrals, they’re going to be primarily functional and designed to deal with the challenges of radiation and such. But I think there will be some commonality with habitats on Earth. Windows for example; humans need to be looking outsid