Spherical underground Mars colony by Michel Lamontagne

One of the weak spots for any domed human colony on Mars would be the enormous pressure difference needed between the higher interior pressure suitable for humans (~ 1 bar) and the near-vacuum exterior pressure of the Martian atmosphere (0.004-0.011 bar). The dome for such a structure should have heavy anchoring deep underground. But there is a much simpler solution - a spherical hermetic structure mostly underground where only the tip of the sphere (visible as a dome) is located above the ground level. Sphere is the strongest geometric shape for containing internal pressure and the structure can be kept in place by the mass put inside the sphere.

Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has created two concept drawings for such a colony where there is only a domed park above the ground level and all the rest of the colony is located below the ground level with a vertical central opening for natural lighting:

The geodesic surface dome is subdivided into small panes for easier replacement and safety:

Underground oasis in a Martian lava tube

Shane Powers (USA) & Linjie Wang (China) have created a design of an artificial underground oasis in a Martian lava tube for Marstopia international design contest held by Eleven Magazine. Their design named "Below Freezing" won the "honourable mention" award in the contest. Its main feature, besides utilizing natural lava tubes, is a vertical transportation system (surrounded by 3D-printed ice walls) to Mars's surface. Martian lava tubes could become very handy in creating large, radiation-protected spaces for future human colonists on Mars.

Earthscrapers (inverted underground skyscrapers) could be perfect for Mars

When building on Mars you need to seriously consider measures to protect the inhabitants from cosmic radiation. You can cover your very first Martian outpost with few meters of regolith or use expensive materials with radiation blocking properties but for larger structures the obvious choice is to build underground. Lava tubes could be a solution but they are not present everywhere on Mars. So most likely you will need to dig your habitats.

One of the building types perfect for Mars could be earthscrapers (or would you call them marsscrapers on Mars?) - inverted underground skyscrapers with large vertical central void (covered with a transparent dome on the surface) for natural lighting. The living and public space is arranged in multiple levels encircling that central void. Here is an example of such structure designed by Fernando Castiñeira, Hernan Goldfarb, Alejandro Ispani, Alex Nelken, Javier Maratea & Malena Verni for 2007 Skyscraper Competition by eVolo.us

Simple diagram of the design:

How SpaceX Mars Colony could look like in a few decades

Polish 3D artist Andrzej Pawelec has created his concept how SpaceX's Mars Colony could look like in a few decades with thousands of inhabitants. Here is detailed animation and drawings of his concept:

Underground Mars colony for 1000 people by InnSpace

A weak ago we posted a concept of Mars colony for 1000 people created by InnSpace team from Poland for Mars Colony Prize contest (held by The Mars Society). In some of the responses there was a critique stressing out the colony should be built underground for better radiation protection. Since then the authors of the concept sent us some additional renderings from which we can conclude it's actually the case - the concept includes most of the buildings being built underground (with only the transparent rooftops sticking out from regolith cover for natural lighting) and interconnected via underground passages.

A hyperloop line entering the colony:

Mars colony in artificial, domed canyon

Picture of the Day 4/7/2019 - design of what could be a human colony in a narrow, artificial, domed canyon on Mars by LAVA architects. This image was done for a design of Masdar City (next to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) - a futuristic sustainable city project in development and intended to be a hub for cleantech companies.

Underground atrium on Mars by Vincent Callebaut

Picture of the Day 10/6/2019 - design of what could be an interior view of an underground atrium on Mars by French eco architect Vincent Callebaut. This image was done for a design project "Wooden Orchids" of an eco-responsible shopping mall in Ruichang, China.

Mars colony apartment block

British The Sun has published an article what the human residences on Mars could look like by 2050 with architects and scientists prototyping several possible types of homes for would-be Martian colonists. All the designs are meant "to protect interplanetary homeowners from hazardous cosmic rays, space radiation and Mars' severe dust storms, as well as insulate them from the cold."

Here are images for the 2nd design - apartment block covered with Martian regolith.
Open link in new tab to view image in full resolution.

Interior of one of the apartments:

Mars mansions in a crater community

British The Sun has published an article what the human residences on Mars could look like by 2050 with architects and scientists prototyping several possible types of homes for would-be Martian colonists. All the designs are meant "to protect interplanetary homeowners from hazardous cosmic rays, space radiation and Mars' severe dust storms, as well as insulate them from the cold."

Here are images for the 1st design - mansions in a crater community. Open link in new tab to view image in full resolution.

Interior of the mansion:

Mars base infographic by National Geographic

Mars base infographic by National Geographic accompanying the season 1 (2016) of its "MARS" TV series.

Season 2 of the TV series will be broadcasted worldwide starting on November 12th.
You can watch the full season 1 episodes of the TV series without geographic restrictions here.

Closeup of the underground section of the base:

Spaceport in large Mars cave by Connor Sheehan

Picture of the Day 9/9/2018 - Spaceport in a large Mars cave by British concept artist Connor Sheehan. More of his art here.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)

Underground human base in Mars cave by Sefrina Arifin

Picture of the Day 2/9/2018 - Small underground human base in a Mars cave by Indonesian environment artist Sefrina Arifin.
More of his art here.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)

Mars colony style resort at Wadi Rum by Chad Oppenheim

Design of a desert resort at Wadi Rum, Jordan by American architect Chad Oppenheim looks a lot like possible human colony on Mars carved into a cliff :)

Human base in Martian cave by Natalia Babiy

Picture of the Day 3/12/2017 - Human base in a Martian cave by Ukrainian concept artist Natalia Babiy. More of her art here.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)

Olympus Town Mars colony by Pixoloid Studios

Picture of the Day 7/10/2017 - "Olympus Town" (a human colony in a Martian lava tube) concept art by Pixoloid Studios for National Geographic's 'Mars' TV series.

(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)

HD images of NASA's base on Mars, 2117, a vision by Blackbird Interactive

In collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a Canadian game developer Blackbird Interactive is building NASA's vision of what a Mars base would look like 100 years from now. The "Project Eagle" base is set near the Mount Sharp at Gale crater and the interactive vision was presented at DICE 2017 game developer summit on 22nd of February.

Here are HD 1152p quality images from the project (open link in new tab to view in full resolution):

Here are HD 1080p screenshots from the demonstration videos (open link in new tab to view in full resolution):

NatGeo's "Mars" TV series: full episodes of season 1

Watch the full season 1 episodes of National Geographic Channel's "Mars" TV series here. The fictional documentary series are depicting the first human mission to Mars, the subsequent building of the first human base on Mars in a lava tube and the further steps for colonization of Mars till the end of 21st century.

Content from season 2:
► Full episodes  ► HD images  ► Trailer & images from it  ► Cover art

Images from: ► Episode 1 ► Episode 2 ► Episode 3 ► Episode 4 ► Episode 5 ► Episode 6

Episode 01 - Novo Mundo ( s01e01 )

HD images from NatGeo's "Mars" TV series

Here are some HD images from National Geographic Channel's upcoming "Mars" TV series which will be broadcasted worldwide starting on November 14th. The fictional documentary series will depict the first human mission to Mars, the subsequent building of the first human base on Mars in a lava tube and the further steps for colonization of Mars till the end of 21st century.

Here are also a bunch of trailers and video clips from the upcoming series.              Open link in new tab to view in full resolution:

HD images from Total Recall (1990) movie

By many the Total Recall of 1990, stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone and directed by Paul Verhoeven (known also for Starship Troopers, RoboCop, Basic Instinct and other movies), is being considered the best Mars movie ever, at least till The Martian will hit cinema screens. Here are some of the best HD images from Total Recall focusing on the Martian landscapes and human colony depicted in the movie (open link in new tab to view in full resolution).

Martian base concept by Janek Kozicki & Joanna Kozicka

Polish engineers/architects Janek Kozicki & Joanna Kozicka has long been working for an architectural design proposal for a Martian base after NASA (or SpaceX) will land humans on Mars for the 1st time. They call it a stage 2 and stage 3 Martian bases (stage 1 - 1st landing base; stage 2 - a small permanent Martian base; stage 3 - small Martian settlement; stage 4 - Martian cities).

Stage 2 Martian base by Janek Kozicki [PDF of the concept here]