Employing the physics of phase transition to harvest Martian ice into as liquid water that freezes on 3-D printing at constant -0°C temperatures. Organized vertically about a lander module housing mechanical and life support systems, multi-layered ice shells are printed within an inflated reinforced membrane. The redundancy of the ice shells creates two pressurized zones: an inner insulated pressure and temperate zone containing a hydroponic garden, and an intermediate pressure regulated zone requiring an oxygen mask.
This 'yard' extends the boundaries of safely occupiable space and provides an overflow cavity for venting to prevent contamination. The translucent ice shells maximize interior daylight, linking inhabitants with circadian rhythms essential to overall health. Printed in a gradient of ice thicknesses, transparent apertures offer panoramic views to the landscape beyond. The luminous architecture of Mars Ice House celebrates man's first presence on Mars, while embodying spatial, material, and temporal dimensions paramount to the crews physical and psychological well being.
Critical of imagined precedents that situate planetary explorers within dark caves and regolith covered spaces, Mars Ice House offers a paradigmatic shift in extraterrestrial habitat design through innovative 3D printed ice construction that reintroduce light and air to the living spaces. --- ---