AlexanderPorter

Learning Lab: Mars Base

Candor Chasma, projected at classroom scale.

An immersive educational environment offering dynamic course topics on demand.

Period
2015
Status
Complete / Archived
Form
Immersive learning environment / projected dome
documentation film
Learning Lab: Mars Base — official documentation film

The project

Learning Lab: Mars Base was an immersive educational environment for the Museum of Future Government Services, offering dynamic course topics on demand. Stepping out of the bright street through a dark threshold, visitors entered an alien landscape. Sharp winds and radio transmissions crackled as they looked through the panoramic eyes of a robotic rover. An assistant named DATA guided them through questions about a settlement in Candor Chasma, reconstructed from NASA HiRISE data. When the lesson ended, they stepped back onto the street with an invitation to attend next week's course: The Great Barrier Reef.

Installation notes

We wanted the Mars base to feel plausible enough to teach from. We began with an actual place: Candor Chasma, reconstructed from NASA HiRISE elevation and color data. Bryan Versteeg developed a near-future habitat for that terrain, and I turned the landscape into a dome projection, calibrating its horizon and responsive zones to the physical room. The built environment, rover viewpoint, and on-demand curriculum made the lesson feel like a visit to a working settlement.

Installation documentation

Candor Chasma fills the dome

The short film follows the full-scale Martian landscape, bilingual curriculum, and responsive lesson panels across the dome.

A proposed Mars settlement of domes, greenhouses, and rovers sits within the reconstructed Candor Chasma landscape.
Learning Lab: Mars Base — Candor Chasma settlement
A 3D software viewport of Mars used during development of the Candor Chasma terrain reconstruction for Learning Lab: Mars Base.source terrain
Learning Lab: Mars Base — Candor Chasma terrain sourcePhotographer to be confirmed
A circular dome-master render of the reconstructed Candor Chasma landscape, with radial guides used to calibrate the horizon and establish interaction zones.calibration test
Learning Lab: Mars Base — dome-master calibrationPhotographer to be confirmed

My role

I turned the reconstructed Martian terrain into a dome projection, calibrating the horizon and interaction zones to align the landscape with the physical room.

Selected credits

Specular

Co-Founder / Creative Director

Alexander Porter
Project Lead
James George
Technical Direction
Mei-Ling Wong
Specular Co-Founder / Head of Production
Bryan Versteeg
Martian 3D Rendering & Assets
Arturo Echeverria
Motion Graphics
Elie Zananiri (Dpt.)
Creative Code
Freckless
Video Documentation Editing

Links & presentations

Companion installation for the same museumFitzania

A tracked, glowing orb turned a preventive-health check into a game for the Museum of Future Government Services.