The government of the United Arab Emirates is developing the ‘Mars 2117’ project, the objective of which is to build the first stable human settlement on the Red Planet within a time frame of 100 years. Part of this ambitious program is Mars Science City, a campus for outer space simulation located outside Dubai, formed by interconnected domes covering 17.5 hectares of desert, where conditions on the planet Mars are recreated.

If architecture is the art and science of making the world more fit for human life, this becomes even more evident as we venture beyond Earth. Vernacular architecture is something that has evolved to adapt to local climates and landscapes, and Mars Science City seeks to explore what Martian vernacular architecture would be like. Designing for low gravity, low pressure, extreme cold, and high radiation levels radically changes the architect’s tools, as well as the resulting forms and spaces. With the prospect of inhabiting a world that has no existing ecosystem, the word ‘environment’ takes on new meaning. The challenge is no longer to preserve the environment, but to design and build an altogether new one. Man goes from keeper of Earth to creator of his small cycle of life on Mars.