Misson 2 Mars, Germany

Misson 2 Mars is an abandoned greenhouse and horticultural nursery complex in western Germany. This location also goes by the names “Groundcontrol” and “Space Garden”. This garden was used as a part of a regional “back to work” training program for the unemployed, to give them commercial gardening skills and to enable them a gateway into paid work. The site became disused around 2010.

The greenhouses are dome-shape, made up of hexagonal and pentagonal panes of glass. Pods are joined to their neighbours by “keyhole” shaped doorways. There are 24 pods in total, arranged in a roughly semi-circular arrangement with some branching off towards the centre of the crescent. One of these domes features the heating system designed to keep the greenhouses at a constant temperature during the winter months. Automatic water/sprinkler systems suggests that these greenhouses would have housed plants with specific humidity requirements. Planting tables line the walls, with some pods also having a central hexagonal table. Many discarded planting pots and other assorted gardening paraphernalia litter the greenhouses. The grounds around the greenhouses are not as overgrown as they should be after 7 years, and several hedges seem a little too well-shaped to be truly forgotten for all this time. It seems that at least periodically someone is tending to the grounds and keeping surrounding vegetation in check at Mission 2 Mars.

The geometric shapes of the hexagonal and pentagonal windows, mixed with the green of the external vegetation made for a very satisfying photography experience. Beautiful ferns now grown unchecked out of crevices between the pods. The striking shape of the greenhouses is reminiscent of something you would see in a Sci-Fi movie, on a distant world with alien life inside.