In this episode of Extreme Living, Anchal speaks with space architect Michael Morris, whose work sits at the intersection of human habitation and space exploration.

Michael has spent nearly two decades working with NASA on the design of space habitats and is best known for the iconic Mars Ice House concept, a project that challenged the assumption that Martian habitats must be buried underground by proposing light, transparency, and psychological well-being as essential parts of safety.

Together, we explore what it means to design for places where there are no site visits, no traditional user groups, and no familiar precedent. Michael shares how architects can contribute to NASA’s engineering-led culture through listening, lateral thinking, and human-centered design. We discuss daylight, plants, color, views, privacy, conflict, sensory monotony, analog environments, and the question of how future habitats can support people not just as operators, but as human beings.

The conversation moves from Mars and the Moon to Earth-based lessons from HI-SEAS, Antarctic research stations, underwater habitats, and healthcare environments, asking how extreme environments can teach us to design better spaces here on Earth.

At its core, this episode asks: what does it really mean to live well in space?

Reference mentioned: NASA’s Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology Project: Overview and Status by Raymond G. Clinton, Jr. et al. The paper discusses MMPACT, NASA’s effort to develop autonomous construction capabilities for lunar infrastructure, including landing pads, habitats, shelters, roadways, berms, and blast shields using lunar regolith-based materials.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20220013524

What does it take to design buildings for one of the most extreme environments on Earth and where people may live in isolation for months at a time?

In this episode of Extreme Living, I speak with architect Hugh Broughton, whose work has helped redefine how we design research stations in Antarctica. Best known for the Halley VI Research Station, Hugh’s work marked a shift from buildings designed purely for survival toward environments that consider long-term human habitability and wellbeing.

• We explore how architecture responds when failure is not an option, what it means to design on a moving ice shelf, and how logistics, prefabrication, and environmental constraints reshape the entire design process.

• The conversation also looks beyond engineering challenges to the human experience of confinement and isolation. From sensory deprivation to the importance of small spatial gestures like light, smell, circulation, and quiet spaces, Hugh explains how architecture can support both community and individual resilience in places where the interior effectively becomes an entire world.

• Together, we discuss what lessons polar architecture might offer other extreme environments from space missions to other forms of long-duration isolation.

About the guest

Hugh Broughton is an architect whose work focuses on designing buildings for some of the most remote and environmentally demanding places on Earth. As founder of Hugh Broughton Architects, he has been involved in the design of several polar research stations, including the Halley VI Research Station in Antarctica, a project that helped redefine how architecture supports long-term human habitation in extreme environments.

His work explores the intersection of climate, logistics, and human experience, developing buildings that must function reliably in isolation while supporting the wellbeing of the people who live and work within them.

Learn more about Hugh’s work:

https://www.hbarchitects.co.uk⁠

What happens when confinement isn’t engineered, labeled, or even recognized as such?

• In this episode of Extreme Living, I am joined by Astrid Lange to explore non-engineered confinement, psychological and cultural conditions that demand sustained adaptation without formal structure or support systems.

• Drawing from Astrid’s experience living and working abroad as an English Language Fellow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an assignment that had more in common with the Peace Corps than a traditional expat workplace. The conversation examines how identity, perception, and behavior shift when familiar anchors disappear. Together, we discuss cognitive overload, language as a form of confinement, and the ways people build their own coping strategies when psychological scaffolding is removed.

Astrid Lange focuses on bilingualism, communicative arts, and collaboration in education. She has worked as a bilingual/EFL teacher and administrator across K–12 and university settings in the United States, Morocco, South Korea, Guatemala, and Brazil. She holds two master’s degrees from Texas A&M University and finished two cycles as English Language Fellow in Brazil. She is also a writer, performer, and founder of Houston’s only bilingual improvisation comedy troupe, ¡No Me Digas!.

This episode continues Extreme Living’s investigation into how humans adapt in extreme environments, not only physical ones, but psychological as well.