Architect AI SpaceFactory has designed Tera, an eco-retreat aiming to recreate a night on Mars.
Although based on Earth, AI SpaceFactory says Tera offers a “view into the future of sustainable living on our planet and beyond”.
Located in woodland on the Hudson River in upstate New York, Tera is built from a 3D-printed biopolymer composite developed from natural crops such as corn and sugar cane, which according to Nasa is 50% stronger and more durable than concrete.
In 2018, the New York firm came second in a Nasa competition to design habitations that could be 3D-printed on Mars.
AI SpaceFactory says after working on the competition, it realised its materials and technology had the potential to eliminate the building industry’s use of unrecyclable materials.
Tera contains a ground-floor living area with a bathroom and kitchen. The first floor can be adapted into either a bedroom or a dining area. Outside is a terrace with an outdoor seating looking over the forest and the Hudson River.
Visitors can stay at Tera from March 2020. Only single weekday overnight trips are still available on AI SpaceFactory’s IndieGoGo page at £142.
AI SpaceFactory says money raised will go towards its scientific mission, which it describes as “emphasising the need for renewable technologies to save this planet, while researching what’s needed to enable life on a new one”.
Images: AI SpaceFactory
