Although human migration to Mars is a long way off, furniture manufacturers are already worrying about living environments outside the earth.
Editor’s note: This article from “Love Fan children” (Public No. ID: ifanr) , Author: 李 超凡 .
Ikea recently at the Mars Desert Research Center (MDRS) in Utah, Redesigned a living quarter that simulates the Martian environment , and explore how to live in a less suitable environment for humans. Design to change people’s living experience.
The simulated Martian living module reconstructed by IKEA is a cylinder about 8 meters high, consisting of two upper and lower decks. There is a shared laboratory and operation workshop in the lower deck, and a kitchenette on the upper deck. And six bedrooms with bunk beds.
Six researchers have lived in this small living space for weeks to months to study how to better live on another planet. They grow crops in greenhouses and research in the laboratory. The soil sample looks like the scene from the movie Mars Rescue.
The task of IKEA is to make the living space in Mars environment look “more like home” by design. According to Christina Levenborn, the designer of the living cabin, a major factor in living comfort is to protect the privacy of the occupants and create a sense of space, even in a small living environment.
Levenborn solved this problem by changing the furniture design. IKEA installed a BROR shelf unit in the operation workshop to store various tools, and used as many furniture as possible in the laboratory, such as desks and stools. Meet the needs of researchers sitting or standing.
Six of the bedrooms can be said to be the biggest challenge, because the space allocated to these six rooms is really small, but this is really the only space for researchers in this living room to be alone. The IKEA designer equipped the rooms with Hanging storage bag and USB charging socket, and warm the whole room with warm yellow desk lamp.
Although this living cabin is designed for the environment outside the earth, IKEA hopes to use these design experiences to improve the living experience on the earth, especially when living in a space.Small apartments and dormitories, these design ideas can help consumers transform small-sized houses.
In fact, the Mars Desert Research Center (MDRS) project was first launched by NASA in collaboration with the School of Industrial Design of Lund University in Sweden. IKEA later joined and sent a design team in 2017. Live in a simulated Mars environment for 7 days .
Ikea designers record their thoughts during the experience and make design suggestions for NASA’s Mars residence plan. Architect Constance Adams points out that “everything in space should have multiple functions”, otherwise the cost will be difficult to bear. .
Designer John Karlsson believes that space design fits well with IKEA’s Nordic design style. “Because that’s mining the functionality of a few items. When you manufacture industrial products, you must pursue efficiency, both in the production process and the use process. “
But no one knows what IKEA furniture looks like on Mars. After all, whether Mars is suitable for human living is still controversial. However, today, with high housing prices and increasingly serious environmental problems, design is used to make people’s happiness as low as possible Limited by the size of the space is undoubtedly a meaningful thing.
Title map and picture from: IKEA