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

Project Lead

Specular

Co-Founder / Creative Director

I led the project for Specular. I developed NASA-derived terrain into the projected environment, calibrated the dome horizon and interaction zones, and shaped how the rover viewpoint and lesson moved through the physical room.

Selected credits

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

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.