Ever wondered what it would be like to live on Mars? Well, wonder no more as Architectural experts have drawn up some prototypes of the types of housing we could see when the Red Planet is colonised by humans.

Specialists worked alongside these architects to predict how three different residential builds would look on Mars - a family home, an apartment aimed at young professionals and a luxury mansion.

Beyond the niceties of the property, other things had to be taken into account like light, and protecting the home from cosmic rays and hazardous levels of radiation. And I know your first question… Why? Why is this a thing?

Well, turns out a lot of us want to live in space (thought it was just me). Research revealed one in ten Britons would move to Mars tomorrow, with top reasons for moving involving a sense of adventure, escaping human dangers on earth and enjoying more space.

So, let’s take a tour, shall we?

Apartment Block

With a number of living pods that would put any Shoreditch studio to shame, they all benefit from a central shared garden and tunnels leading to work spaces.

Tinted glazing with coating technology protects people from the sun’s rays, filtering out radiation alongside the walls designed to protect from the cold.

Family Home

Moving to Mars with your family? Lucky you - you’ll get a protective cave with a driveway leading to an inbuilt garage (let’s not talk about what kind of road system you’ll get on the martian planet).

But I digress, It comes with a conservatory-style veranda that offers a small back garden. The kind of natural light needed to simulate what we see on Earth is provided by LEDs and camera systems that mimic windows in real-time.

Mansion

As for the big, posh house, you get a whole damn crater to yourself, with a huge living space and private indoor garden complete with multi-gym in an artificially-oxygenated environment. Oh, and don’t forget the car port to hold multiple vehicles.

Now, why am I talking about this? This is some research done by National Geographic in promotion of series 2 of their rather addictive show MARS. While that does throw the legitimacy of a lot of this into question (maybe they’re just over-dramatising certain elements for a good press release), it’s grounded in factual understanding of Mars’ atmosphere and our want for going there.

Their own research shows a fifth of Brits see themselves being able to move there within their lifetime.

“Ultimately, living on Mars must seem more appealing and psychologically inviting than living on Earth or not enough people will want to make a new life there,” Stepher Petranek, author of the book How We’ll Live On Mars, which the National Geographic show is based on, commented.

“As we make these predictions now, we can only wonder what designs we will actually adopt as hundreds of thousands of people eventually move to the Red Planet.”

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