Turkish architect designs ‘future living' on Mars
The idea of living on another planet has gripped the imagination of scientists and dreamers for centuries. Now, one Turkish architect is turning those dreams into reality.
Gülay Yedekçi has designed an entire extraterrestrial community that could one day be home to humans on Mars over 54 million kilometers from Earth.
The red planet, referred to as such due to the red iron oxide existing on its surface, has made the headlines recently as NASA scientists and the Dutch-based Mars One foundation revealed plans to send people there for the first time.
Yedekçi, an associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul's Yeni Yüzyıl University, lectures in future architecture. She is the only Turkish academic working in this field.
Although Turkey currently has no space agency, officials have said it is preparing to build one in the future.
Yedekçi began the Mars Road project in 2013 and, together with a strong team of eight, completed the concept in around two years.
"We've designed bell jar-shaped cities, which will include multi-story buildings and underground places linked to each other," Yedekçi said.
"Underground places will be built in order to protect from meteors or any threats," she said. According to the draft project, shopping centers to green houses, farms to education centers and almost every kind of facility will exist in the living area, which is expected to cover 10,000 square meters.
Their first step is terraforming. The design envisages greenhouses and farms to produce oxygen to support life.
"There is a very small amount of oxygen and no nitrogen balance there. These two elements make things difficult for us," Yedekçi explained.
Ninety-five percent of the planet's atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide.
According to NASA, Mars has much lighter gravity – about one-third of that on Earth – and a much thinner atmosphere. Humans cannot survive unaided on its surface. It's also much colder on Mars than on the Earth with an average temperature of negative 64 degrees Celsius.
For construction, 3-D printers will be used. No materials are planned to be taken from the Earth, but will be provided by the red planet.
Yedekçi has called on other Turkish scientists to join them. "Our project is open to everyone. We need scientists from every field, from chemistry to zoology."
Within one year, Yedekçi and her team will reveal three alternative projects to be selected.
The project, which Yedekçi claims would cost approximately $30 billion, would enable 100 people to live on the planet for 18 months.
Mars has always loomed large in the human imagination. Named after the Roman god of war, the planet was the subject of Orson Welles's notorious 1938 radio play about a Martian invasion of Earth, "The War of the Worlds," which caused a nationwide panic.
If everything goes according to plan, a Turkish architect could have her name written on the famous red planet for the first time.
Gülay Yedekçi has designed an entire extraterrestrial community that could one day be home to humans on Mars over 54 million kilometers from Earth.
The red planet, referred to as such due to the red iron oxide existing on its surface, has made the headlines recently as NASA scientists and the Dutch-based Mars One foundation revealed plans to send people there for the first time.
Yedekçi, an associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul's Yeni Yüzyıl University, lectures in future architecture. She is the only Turkish academic working in this field.
Although Turkey currently has no space agency, officials have said it is preparing to build one in the future.
Yedekçi began the Mars Road project in 2013 and, together with a strong team of eight, completed the concept in around two years.
"We've designed bell jar-shaped cities, which will include multi-story buildings and underground places linked to each other," Yedekçi said.
"Underground places will be built in order to protect from meteors or any threats," she said. According to the draft project, shopping centers to green houses, farms to education centers and almost every kind of facility will exist in the living area, which is expected to cover 10,000 square meters.
Their first step is terraforming. The design envisages greenhouses and farms to produce oxygen to support life.
"There is a very small amount of oxygen and no nitrogen balance there. These two elements make things difficult for us," Yedekçi explained.
Ninety-five percent of the planet's atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide.
According to NASA, Mars has much lighter gravity – about one-third of that on Earth – and a much thinner atmosphere. Humans cannot survive unaided on its surface. It's also much colder on Mars than on the Earth with an average temperature of negative 64 degrees Celsius.
For construction, 3-D printers will be used. No materials are planned to be taken from the Earth, but will be provided by the red planet.
Yedekçi has called on other Turkish scientists to join them. "Our project is open to everyone. We need scientists from every field, from chemistry to zoology."
Within one year, Yedekçi and her team will reveal three alternative projects to be selected.
The project, which Yedekçi claims would cost approximately $30 billion, would enable 100 people to live on the planet for 18 months.
Mars has always loomed large in the human imagination. Named after the Roman god of war, the planet was the subject of Orson Welles's notorious 1938 radio play about a Martian invasion of Earth, "The War of the Worlds," which caused a nationwide panic.
If everything goes according to plan, a Turkish architect could have her name written on the famous red planet for the first time.
Last Update: March 01, 2015 19:57