Due to its rotational period, as well as its axial tilt relative to the ecliptic plane, its season and day cycles are extremely similar to Earth&#;s. It is the home to the highest mountain in the Solar System, Olympus Mons &#; a staggering three times taller than Mount Everest. It is also home to Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos &#; the Greek gods of fear and terror.

The museum is placed as an abstract shape in the landscape. Its sculptural form is spanning between perfect geometry and specific bridge technology: on one side, it’s a simple box structure; on the other side, it’s a huge warping sculpture. A simple twist in the building volume allows the bridge to lift from the relatively lower forested area towards the south, and up to the hillside area in the north.

Upon entering The Smile, residents are met by red, blue, green, and yellow tiles, inspired by Harlem’s Puerto Rican and Caribbean murals. The exterior of the building trickles into the interior, with the multicolored mailbox mirrors, colored tiles, and the wooden furniture shaped to mimic the curve of the building form. The material palette, herringbone tile pattern and sparks of color are carried into the elevators and the upper floor residential lobbies, creating a unified experience throughout the building.

BIG’s design ensures that the tower apartments have optimal conditions towards sun and views. The bar units are given value through their spectacular views and direct access to the roofscapes, activating the outdoor realm. The exterior facades are developed to correspond to the different orientations and solar conditions, creating a diverse façade which varies from the viewer’s vantage point and the position of the sun.

Like the monsoons, the dust storms and the mountains, the BIG Pin is also an exceptional moment, a point of reference and a mechanism to set the still landscape in motion &#; only this time through the movement of the spectator. Instead of referencing other observation towers, the Pin takes as a point of reference Frank Lloyd Wright’s celebrated Guggenheim Museum of New York. The visitor experiences the museum as a spiral motion looking inward. At the BIG Pin, the focus is reversed. Instead of a void, there is the dramatic landscape of Phoenix, Arizona.