Thursday, May 9, 2024
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Humanity openly dreams of living on Mars. The simple fact of considering how to solve the problems of such a hostile environment is useful in achieving the ideal of self-sufficient, accessible, resilient, and environmentally friendly construction.
By Tomás Muñoz M.
When a human being comes across a reality that was previously unknown, they adapt to the new rules and then use what they have learned to improve their daily life. Thus, when architecture adapts to an extreme environment, we learn to minimize its impact and use the available resources. These same criteria can be extrapolated and prove useful anywhere in the world. In this way, humanity has managed to build in all habitats, and has extracted lessons from all of them. For example: How to make the most of the scarce heat in cold areas? Can strong winds be transformed into a beneficial element? Is it possible to trap morning humidity in the driest areas of the planet?
This idea reaches its climax when the environment is the most extreme of all: space. And the truth is, up until now, only very specific facilities have been developed outside of Earth, such as space stations, rockets and shuttles, or satellites. However, humanity is already looking beyond and there are numerous projects to build habitable buildings on the Moon or Mars. This spatial or extraterrestrial architecture forces us to think in terms of sustainability and self-sufficiency. Why? “Because there are no fossil fuels on the red planet, since, directly, there are no fossils. Therefore, everything that is used there must be renewable.” This is how Danish architect Bjarke Ingels explains it in his TED talk An architect's guide to living on Mars.
As head of the Mars Science City project, commissioned by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, Ingels is clear that “to live on the red planet we must reduce resource consumption and take advantage of those that are there, in addition to using our technology to make it a reality.” And he gives a very graphic example: “There is regolith and ice water. With sand and stone we can make ceramics and concrete. Aluminum and glass can be extracted from sand to produce photovoltaic energy and use it to obtain chemical reactions to extract methane -as fuel- and iron oxide to manufacture steel, as well as different types of plastic,” the expert explains. “Of course,” he emphasizes, “we would have to recycle everything that has been manufactured and, simultaneously, we must cultivate plants for terraforming and obtaining food.”
However, it is at this point in the analysis where Ingels asks himself, “Why bother going to Mars when it seems like we have too many unresolved problems here on our planet?” To demonstrate this, the Danish architect specifies that “out of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a total of eight are related in some way to constructions and their environment.” Therefore, “We must understand that the same principles and guidelines that would allow us to live on the red planet, will make us the best custodians of our home.”
Beyond circularity and renewable energy
In general terms, experts in space construction summarize in two principles what should guide any extraterrestrial design to achieve the highest degree of sustainability: circular economy applied to resources and renewable energy to achieve self-sufficiency without polluting. It is easy to conclude that these parameters are equally valid for our planet, and this is what Melodie Yashar, a space architect, technologist, and American researcher, believes. She also studies the possibilities the red planet offers (How to Build for Human Life on Mars).
In her opinion, “Designing structures in space has to do with mitigating risks.” In this way, “the environments we create out there must be the most durable and resilient structures ever conceived. Future extraterrestrial habitats will be self-regulated and self-maintained buildings.” Yashar believes that “we are about to see a radical transformation in how we build on Earth.” To corroborate her statement, start with a question: “How could this spatial architecture affect what we do here?” Based on her experience, “Designing for an extreme environment is restrictive and presents limitations, but this is precisely what gives us the opportunity to design completely new solutions that stem from true creativity,” she assures us.
As the American architect recalls, "The UN states that up to 30% of carbon emissions worldwide come from construction in general, which forces us to reimagine and rethink this entire industry.” Beyond what we do on Mars in the future, "the truth is that the most habitable planet is the one we currently live on. We should not think of space as a lifeboat for humanity, but rather we should use it to test new ideas and develop intelligent, accessible, and sustainable building.” In fact, Yashar believes that all the experiments that are already underway - such as Marsha or Mars Ice Home, among others - “pose solutions to problems that go beyond circularity or energy, such as homelessness for homeless people or how to build indestructible homes in the face of natural disasters.”
It is precisely this human desire to overcome obstacles that is the true driving force bringing architecture closer to the (until now) Utopian ideal of construction, one in which no impact is generated on the environment... whether it is terrestrial or not.
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