I grew up in the age of Star Trek, Space 1999, and Star Wars. In fact, I'm told that the first thing I ever saw on TV, was man walking on the moon. I wasn't even a year old, but my parents held me up to the screen to watch things unfold in space. Way back in the days of MYSPACE, in my profile I listed "world explorers" as my heroes.
I credit my love and intrigue with outer space to my late mother, Julie Carroll Och. Her father (my grandfather - who died before I was born) was a geologist for the State Department. He traveled the globe, went into live volcanoes, and narrowly escaped South Korea as the war was breaking out there. The point being, I come by my attraction to space and universal exploration honestly.
So, when I came across Vera Mulyani and Mars City Design, I was not surprised to find this Renaissance woman and her work right up my alley. She is an award winning architect, film maker and author who has big ideas for the urbanization and development of cities for humans on planet Mars. Her innovative and celebrated work here on Earth ranges from color changing concrete to air filtering bamboo walls. Mulyani pushes the limits of developing technologies in building materials and designs.
In her live presentation, Mulyani gives you her background story. It is compelling and, gives you a window into the world and background of girl that became the woman with such big ideas. She explains that a growing feeling of homesickness and a need to improve her less than ideal surroundings led her to an epiphany. As an architect, she can create her home no matter where she lives on this or any other planet.
Mars City Designs is an international group that is designing and developing sustainable facilities and cities for the people of Earth...on Mars. She elegantly explains that exploration is not limited to this planet, and without big ideas we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are today.
Mars City Designs announced its first design contest at the revolutionary convention in Austin this year. They plan on bringing together creative thinkers, and to present their concepts and prototypes at next year's conference. They are creating concepts and designs for the sustainable life on Mars. They are creating blueprints for the future.
Mulyani is regularly asked, "Why Mars?" She considers herself an explorer. When humans stop looking and stop searching, we cease to be explorers, she explains. We need to look towards the next step in outer space exploration. That step is beyond just visiting Mars. That next step is how to create a sustainable living environment there.
I found Vera Mulyani's Mars City Designs group and presentation to be a fascinating look at the ideas, concepts, and possibilities of what our future in space and on Mars could look like.
For more details about Mars City Designs, click here.