---
title: "This Plan For a Martian City Under a Dome is Breathtaking"
description: "Back in 2017, architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group were asked to design a prototype of a Martian city by the Dubai government."
date: "2020-06-11"
modified: "2020-06-11"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/martian-city-dome-breathtaking"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "dubai"
  - "mars"
  - "martian city"
---

# This Plan For a Martian City Under a Dome is Breathtaking

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Architectural-Concept-Martian-City-Breathtaking.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Bjarke Ingels Group\</em\>*

Back in 2017, architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group were asked to design a prototype of a Martian city by the Dubai government. What they came up with is a stunning vision of what life on the Red Planet could one day be like, [*CNN* reports](<https://www.cnn.com/style/article/mars-science-city-design-spc-scn/index.html>).

The project is part of the United Arab Emirates' Mars Science City, a space intended for Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.

So far, the city is not much more than a concept — but that doesn't make the vision itself any less beautiful.

The architects imagine a future Martian city as being composed of several pressurized biodomes, filled with oxygen mined from underground ice.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/martiancity2.jpg>)
*All images courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group*

Solar power provides energy.

"Since there is very little atmosphere on Mars, the heat transfer will be very low, meaning that the air inside the domes will not cool down as fast as it would on Earth," Bjarke Ingels Group architect Jakob Lange told *CNN*.

To get away from harmful radiation on the surface, rooms would be buried about 20 feet underground.

"In the future on Mars, you would have skylights in your underground cave that would be like aquariums, with fish swimming around," Lange said.

What makes matters even more interesting is the fact that gravity is only a third that on Earth.

"It creates almost like a completely new rule set that you have to follow when designing architecture in space."

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/martiancity3.jpg>)

The final city — a conceptual design intended for Dubai on Earth, not Mars — will include a research lab, educational facility, museum, amphiteather and co-working office space.

**READ MORE:** [Architects have designed a Martian city for the desert outside Dubai](<https://www.cnn.com/style/article/mars-science-city-design-spc-scn/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on Martian habitats:** *[IKEA Designed the Interior of a Mars Habitat - Futurism](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ikea-designed-interior-mars-habitat>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)