Every winter since 2020, Mars College builds a temporary off-grid campus on a dry lake bed by the Salton Sea, near Bombay Beach, California. It's assembled mostly by-hand from pallet racks and plywood, powered by solar, with water, internet, and the other camp services figured out together, from first principles. For three months it runs like a full college town: classes, art, events, a co-op gallery, a film festival, and whatever else Martians come up with while we're there. Each spring it's torn down and the desert is left empty as it was found, until next year when we renew it again. Each season of Martians brings a new and unpredictable cohort: every age, nationality, background, and skill, all here for reasons of their own.
More articles, etc:
https://x.com/Mars_College
https://www.kcrw.com/shows/kcrw-reports/stories/mars-college...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/29/mars-college...
https://supernuclear.substack.com/p/case-study-mars-college
https://www.soniare.net/blog/mars-college-building-the-futur...
https://marscollege.substack.com/p/a-pop-up-college-in-the-d...
Every winter since 2020, Mars College builds a temporary off-grid campus on a dry lake bed by the Salton Sea, near Bombay Beach, California. It's assembled mostly by-hand from pallet racks and plywood, powered by solar, with water, internet, and the other camp services figured out together, from first principles. For three months it runs like a full college town: classes, art, events, a co-op gallery, a film festival, and whatever else Martians come up with while we're there. Each spring it's torn down and the desert is left empty as it was found, until next year when we renew it again. Each season of Martians brings a new and unpredictable cohort: every age, nationality, background, and skill, all here for reasons of their own.