New Madrid — Red Horizon Federation — Mars 2120
Martian Architectural Training Center
Research · Innovation · Formation
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The design journey began with a fundamental question: how does architecture breathe on a planet with almost no atmosphere? Inspired by the human lungs and Persian wind towers, CFAM-2120 bridges millennia of architectural wisdom with the demands of an alien world.
Drawing from the organic geometry of the human lungs and the functional elegance of Persian badgirs (wind catchers), we sought a form that is simultaneously alive and structural. The building must breathe — just as a lung does — managing air, temperature and oxygen within a sealed Martian enclosure.
Before any digital rendering, the design was explored through hand-sculpted physical models. Wet concrete and fabric were used to simulate the fluid, geological emergence of the structure from the Martian regolith — three towers rising like ancient rock formations from a draped, undulating base.
The building is organized across four levels. Level -1 houses laboratories and research workshops. The ground floor contains the main entrance under the central tower, a conference hall, and classrooms. The first floor is entirely dedicated to education. The top floor hosts public spaces and faculty offices — a place where academia meets governance.
At the heart of the project stand three towers inspired by ancient badgirs. The central tower rises ~50m, flanked by two lateral towers of 25–30m. Reinterpreted for Mars, these structures capture, filter and redistribute air — regulating temperature, ventilation, and oxygen generation within the complex.
A continuous structural system rises from the Martian surface, forming the building's fluid geometry through curved load-bearing elements that channel forces toward the ground. The lower gravity of Mars enables lighter, more expressive structures — modular systems built from locally produced Martian regolith concrete.
Two material strategies were explored: Martian Concrete (Regolith Concrete) — produced on-site via large-scale 3D printing from Martian soil, offering excellent structural resistance and visual integration with the landscape; and Advanced Metal Structure — a lightweight modular framework prefabricated on Earth, assembled on Mars, enabling rapid construction and future expansion.
The building's geometry emerges from the Martian surface as a continuous, fluid form — like fabric unfolding over the terrain. This organic language allows the structure to integrate with the red planet's landscape, as if it grew naturally from the ground.
The branching, pneumatic structure of the human lung inspired the building's fluid, continuous geometry — a form that breathes, expands, and filters, mirroring biological logic in an architectural context.
Persian wind catchers from desert architecture are reinterpreted as advanced atmospheric systems. The three towers become thermal regulators, air circulators and oxygen generators — ancient wisdom transformed into Martian technology.
Using the very surface of Mars as a building material — regolith concrete produced in-situ — closes the loop between site and structure. The building is not imported to Mars; it is born from it.
Specializing in environmental adaptation and organic architectural forms. Her exploration of biomorphic structures and desert architecture traditions formed the conceptual backbone of CFAM-2120.
Drawing on deep knowledge of Persian architectural heritage — particularly badgir wind tower systems — Sina translated ancestral environmental solutions into a futuristic atmospheric infrastructure for the Martian context.
In the late 21st century, global conflicts and extreme climate change forced humanity to look beyond Earth. The Proyecto Nuevo Hogar — an international initiative — set its sights on Mars. Through decades of missions, temporary bases evolved into cities. New Madrid became the political, scientific and technological capital of the Red Horizon Federation.
CFAM-2120 was born from the need to develop architectural knowledge native to Mars — new solutions, new materials, new ways of understanding the relationship between structure and territory on the red planet.