S1, Ep8 The architectural scientist and the scientific architect. With Sanjeev Gupta and Xavier de Kestelier

Stepping carefully up to the crater’s edge, white boots kicking up swirls of red dust, the figure lowers themselves carefully down to sit on an ancient boulder - and pulls out an A3 sketchpad.

The stranger surveys the Martian landscape, interrogates the form and flowing expanse in front of them and starts to sketch out a narrative created over millions of years. They fill their empty page with illustrations telling the story of the planet and its potential for life.

What is this space-traveller, are….what, exactly? A scientist? An artist? Or both?

Sanjeev Gupta, professor of Earth Science at Imperial College London and part of the Mars Curiosity rover mission currently exploring Gale Crater for NASA joins interplanetary architect Xavier de Kestelier to examine the necessity of blurred boundaries between science and architecture, if humans are to successfully live on the Red Planet.

Hassell Talks is produced and brought to you by international design practice, Hassell.