The Mars Multi-Purpose Building Is Striking, Inspired by the Red Planet

This is one of those cases. In Hwaseong, a city near Seoul, in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province, there’s a multi-purpose structure called simply Mars. Mars is inspired by and is a tribute to the Red Planet, but at the same time, it’s one architecture firm’s way of offering a simulacrum of space exploration without having to leave the confines of our planet.

In other words, if you can’t go to space, how about making space come to you? This mystery client, who took reception of the Mars structure in late 2020, is one of the people who can say they did it. How’s that for a party conversation starter?

Space-themed residences are not unheard of, and Mars is the most recent example. It was initially meant to be a mobile, three-piece tiny home inspired by a mobile habitat that would serve to explore the actual Mars. Eventually, the architects at Moon Hoon decided to take the three pieces and stack them on top of each other. The result is an angular, instantly recognizable structure that would probably look just as good on Mars as it does in this barren neighborhood.

The inspiration for the name was two-fold. “Hwaseoung shares the same sound as ‘Mars’ in Korean, thus the name for the project,” the architect says. Then, the building is located in a still-deserted area of a new development, which bears a remote similarity to the barren landscape of the Red Planet. The latter will hopefully not remain as barren once man lands on it by 2026 if Elon Musk has his way.

The building has three levels, with the owner’s residences on top. The predominant visual is that Mars is a piece of a puzzle solved badly, and the goal is to mess with the residents’ perception of physical space. Using angled floors and folded roofs, mirrored surfaces and contrasting finishes, and industrial design, Mars creates what Moon Hoon refers to as a dynamic spatial experience by creating “a false sensation of gravity.”

The ground floor is open space and is meant for commercial use: the client specifically wanted a building where he could rent out two of the floors. The second floor houses two living units: a three-bedroom apartment and a smaller, one-bedroom home. The top floor is the owner’s residence: a two-bedroom penthouse with an observatory-like sphere that protrudes from the rest of the building.

Each floor is independent and, as per the project’s description, “has a unique geometry evoking movement in its imaginary context.” That is what Mars is all about: finding the middle way between architecture and fantasy and offering a stylish vehicle for both. Mars is its own fantasy world, defying architectural conventions and forcing residents to adjust their perception of space and what is real constantly.

“The special client with the right architect can travel to the land of fantasies and imaginations, where names denote other things, and where shapes evoke other dimensions and time,” Moon Hoon says. “I believe we have been doing this, by erecting houses for gods and other entities all throughout history. The collective urges and desires have given way to individual inclinations and understandings, which can somehow expand the boundary of architecture to a whole new level of lightness and seriousness.”

Or, if you’re not in the mood to wax poetic about architecture, Mars is just a striking, unusual, and big structure, with a strange name and even stranger inspiration. It’s still worth seeing if you’re ever in that part of the world.