MARS Case | OPEN Architecture

Architecture, House, Residential Buildings

At House Vision, OPEN x XIAOMI challenge the conventions of living space and propose new possibilities for the future with their project MARS Case.
Two hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau withdrew from society and moved to Walden alone to reflect upon the nature of simple living. Today, as we live and get lost in a world of consumption and environmental crises, what are our essential needs?

photography by Qingshan Wu

Perhaps the house is not just a stable architectural endpoint, but an industrial product that is portable and transferable. Perhaps design can bring about more than superficial improvements in the quality of our living spaces. Perhaps through the application of new design to the houses of the future, we can finally explore the nature of our essential needs and of truly simple living.

photography by via Xiaomi

Imagine that humanity is forced to settle on Mars, our distant, lonely planetary neighbor. There, we cannot rely on natural resources, as we have become so accustomed to on Earth. There, we have no choice but to reduce the excessive consumption of our former lifestyles and carry only minimal essentials. Recycling will be the only way we survive.

photography by Qingshan Wu

In letting go of the “extra”, we will come to rethink our lives in a simplified setting.
As we find new appreciation in every drop of water, every bite of food, and every breath of air, can we finally find inner peace and discover the true nature of freedom? Is this what we define as the ideal house of the future?

MARS Case: A simple ideal living

MARS Case presents a vision of this ideal house, seamlessly combining technology, product design, and architecture. Domestic appliances in Xiaomi’s current product lines can all be connected wirelessly and controlled over smartphones. MARS Case goes a step further to integrate separate electronic appliances into one synthesized product, The Home. It will harness and recycle the heat, exhaust, condensation, and so on generated by each different electronic module and feed it back into this integrated ecosystem. In other words, energy, water, and air will be fully recycled in the system, minimizing the consumption of resources.

Nacasa & Partners Inc

This is MARS Case; a place of self-circulating energy and zero waste. A compact, lightweight, and highly portable 2.4-meter x 2.4-meter x 2-meter module, from which a “living bubble” can be inflated, collapsed, and folded back within just like the packing and unpacking of a suitcase. An ideal house to explore the boundless possibilities of the future.

Design by OPEN Architecture

Project Info:
Architects: OPEN Architecture
Location: Beijing, China
Architect in Charge: Hu Li, Wenjing Huang
Design Team: Boji Hu (Project Architect), Mian Qin, Meng Ma, Mengru Li, Wenhan Wei, Xuezhu Sun
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Qingshan Wu, Nácasa&Partners Inc.
Project Name: MARS Case