Helping build a full-scale Martian House, Bristol

13th July 2022

A full-scale Martian House, designed for future life on Mars is being built in Bristol, UK

Pioneering public art project invites the public to help create the interior of a ‘Martian House’ reflecting the real environmental challenges faced on Mars, and inspire new ideas about how we can all live more sustainably.

A full-scale house designed for future life on Mars is being built on M Shed Square in Bristol, UK as part of ongoing public art project, Building a Martian House. Originally conceived by local artists and Watershed Pervasive Media Studio residents Ella Good and Nicki Kent, the project has so far brought together space scientists, architects, engineers, designers and the public to explore how we live today and stimulate visions for new ways of living here on Earth and on Mars.

The house will open from 17th August 2022 with a three-month programme of workshops, talks and events for all ages. Ahead of that date the artists invite the people of Bristol to get involved and help co-design the interior.

Applicants can register interest via the project website – www.buildingamartianhouse.com

A team led by Hugh Broughton Architects, working in partnership with design studio Pearce+, developed the design of the house. They have created a lightweight prototype building which could be easily transported to Mars whilst withstanding its inhospitable conditions and the real environmental challenges you would face there – such as average temperatures of -63C and exposure to galactic and cosmic radiation.

SCF Construct, along with our contractor partners have donated materials, supply chain, donations and construction expertise to bring the project to life, and worked alongside scientific and engineering experts Professor Lucy Berthoud, Dr Bob Myhill and Professor James Norman from University of Bristol. Funding has also been provided by the Edward Marshall Trust. The design ideas were developed over several years, initially through public workshops with a diverse range of participants ranging from undergraduates and school children to retirees.

Ella Good and Nicki Kent said: “Considering how we might live on Mars helps us re-think every aspect of our lives here on Earth. Mars is a place where you’d have to live carefully and sustainably and so helps bring sharp focus on how we live today, and in particular our
relationship with consumerism. Our ‘Martian House’ has been a real collaborative effort and it’s been incredible to see what we can make when all sorts of people use their imaginations and skills to work together. We are now thrilled to invite audiences to get involved for a
second time and join our interiors team to practically imagine how things might work in a zero-waste environment. This might be creating fabrics, colours, art on the walls, or inventions for pedal powered washing machines, as well as all the little objects of everyday
living. We hope our project shows that we can all have input into how we think about the future”.

Building a Martian House is an ever evolving, cross-disciplinary and socially engaged artwork providing a blank canvas to research, experiment and start new conversations. Audiences are invited to ask questions and collaborate to generate ideas that would not be possible without a wide range of viewpoints and experiences. The work aims to engage audiences outside of traditional arts institutions to create conversation and change around society itself – looking at how we, collectively, live.

The house will be presented in partnership with M Shed. The opening will coincide with ‘Think Global: Act Bristol’, an M Shed exhibition that aims to foster positive action to address the climate and ecological crises.

Full details of the three-month public programme of events starting in mid-August are available on the website www.buildingamartianhouse.com.

For those unable to visit the house in person, an online virtual tour experience showing the interiors of the house will be made available, produced by Future Virtual.

Building a Martian House’ is due to open on 17th August 2022 and run until the end of October 2022.

Currently on-site being built by Galliford Try

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