‘24 Hours 37 Minutes - Nicosia’.
superFUTURES - MA Interior Design at the Royal College of Art.
The MA Interior Design at the Royal College of Art is divided into three studios. My choice was the super-FUTURES studio, a research-led speculative project exploring spatial futures, in relation to nature.
‘24 Hours 37 Minutes - Nicosia’ is a follow-up to the final year dissertation for the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Interior Design at Kingston University, London, entitled ‘New Habitats on Mars: What role for Interior Design on the Red Planet?’ (LINK)
superFUTURES prioritises filmmaking as its central method. Film expresses emotions, feelings, and the notion of time, which enables us to explore interior architecture in another dimension.
Have you ever imagined what living on Mars would be like? How would your day-to-day life change?
‘24 Hours 37 Minutes - Nicosia’ explores the psychological effects of isolation in a simulation of Mars, Nicosia, examining how extreme environments shape behaviour and relationships. Set in Dungeness, it considers confinement, remoteness, and ecological fragility in planetary colonisation.
Film Poster.
LINK TO FILM
Policy Making.
In 2028 launches the first Martian service programme in Dungeness, Kent, a flat, isolated and coastal plateau. The Department for Mars Exploration was created following the annoucement of the UK pulling out of the ExoMars programme to pursue its research independently, and financed by the introduction of a new tax on the population.
‘WE WILL BE FIRST’ Department for Mars Exploration programme on Piccadilly Circus.
The selected participants receive a Martian service summons letter, informing them that they have been selected to live for a minimum of six months in a Mars simulation, Nicosia.
Set in a world where space exploration defines the power of a nation, the UK Space Agency and Department for Mars Exploration collect data and research on the psychological effects of extreme isolation. Cut off from the outside world, participants experience the emotional weight of confinement, monotony, and adaptation to a different timescale - mirroring what future settlers may face millions of kilometres from Earth.
Martian Service Summons Letter.
Production of Props.
Production of film props for ‘24 Hours 37 Minutes - Nicosia’ and a digital clock in order to adapt to Martian time.
On Mars, one day lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes due to its rotation around the Sun. Indeed, it completes one rotation every 24.6 hours and one year on the Red Planet is equivalent to 687 Earth days, meaning you would only celebrate your birthday about once every two years.
Digital Clock showing the time on Mars.
Due to the lack of Sun in the Mars simulation, Nisocia, participants will have to take a number of supplements to support their mental and physical health.
Supplement bottles.
Food Packages.
Producing a film was an opportunity to imagine the sets in the greatest detail, along with all the surrounding elements such as lighting, color grading and sound.
The Mars Ratio.
In order to represent the conditions on Mars, the simulation was entirely adapted to the lack of gravity present on the Red Planet. Indeed, gravity on Mars is equal to 38% of the gravity on Earth. This means that as time goes on, our bodies will start to adapt to the lack of gravity and gradually elongate.
How would this affect interior architecture?
Seating, for example, will have to be higher, and interior architecture rethought to fit new proportions: the Mars Ratio, where everything is multiplied by 38%.
Standard height of a bed: 550 mm
Applying the Mars Ratio:
550 x 1.38 = 759 mm
Elevation of the bedroom at Nicosia.
While living at Nicosia, in an artificial environmental stimulus, the images of Mars on the walls of the bedroom will change according to the time of day.
Elevation of the bedroom at Nicosia.
The Bathroom Concept.
In the simulation, Nicosia, the participants take part in scientific experiments, and notably artificially growing fruit and vegetables in a food laboratory. The shapes of tomato seeds observed under a microscope are reminiscent of Verner Panton’s Visiona 2. Extruded and adapted to the Mars Ratio, these shapes will house the shared bathroom.
This experiment unfolds during a new space race, with NASA, ESA and private companies competing for influence beyond our atmosphere. National pride and economic ambition fuel rapid development, but also deepen political tensions. Space, once a symbol of unity, is becoming a stage for growing conflict.
At the same time, Earth pays a price. Dungeness, a rare and fragile coastal ecosystem, is reshaped to simulate an extra-terrestrial landscape. As we prepare and train to discover a new planet, we alter the one we already call home. The simulation forces a deeper reflection: are we chasing new worlds at the cost of our own?