Lucknow resident Anurita Chandola says that she has always harboured an inexplicable curiosity about space and all things celestial. Taking after her brother, who watched movies inspired by the cosmos, Chandola remembers spending hours dreaming about a world beyond. “I just don’t know how and why...,” she says to us over a call from London.

Building A Martian House is a public art project that involves designing a prototype of a house that’s Mars-friendly. It can withstand extreme climatic conditions, atmospheric pressure and decreased gravitational pull. The house has an upper inflatable floor, which can reflect radiation and a lower floor, which will sit underground and consist of two bedroom pods. It is solar-powered, can grow its own food and has a toilet customised for the red planet. Illustration/Building A Martian House