“Unknown” competition

The Unknown contest, 2012 edition, is asking the exploration of new ideas for housing, housing that might develop in the future.

Mars. Gale Crater. Landing and exploration place of NASA’s latest rover, Curiosity. Temperatures range from -143 degrees C to +35 degrees C, rarefied atmosphere 95% CO2, 0.13% O2, 4.87% other gases, traces of erosion on the rocks, ice under the surface, no sign of life.

Living on another planet as a resolution for the overpopulation crisis. This is our entry for the Unknown contest. The overpopulation of planet Earth seems inevitable, growing urbanization, destuction of ecosystems and air pollution have led us to conclude that sustainable architecture can not solve the housing problem. The planet’s finite resources can not allow an unlimited population expansion. For these reasons, we decided to try making another planet habitable.

Why Mars? Mars is close enough to Earth, it has a similar structure of the soil, it has no harmful substances in suspension and research shows that liquid water existed. In other words, it can become a habitable planet.

The project aims to explore the possibility of living on the red planet. This project has three phases, each pointing one of three major problems: Reaching the surface of the planet, Construction and Housing.