earthships

In 2007, on vacation, my husband and I drove between Taos and Albuquerque, New Mexico and saw a few very unusual houses.

An Earthship is a type of passive solar house, sustainable  in design and construction, made of natural and recycled materials designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture.  Michael Reynolds began designing this type of house upon graduating with a degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 1969.  He now builds all over the world.  Earthships are generally off-the-grid homes, minimizing their reliance on public utilities and fossil fuels.  Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources, especially energy from the sun.  Houses grow their own food and dispose of waste by recycling--quite ingenious.

"The earth is embracing the building...as a mother holds a baby." 

~Michael Reynolds 

This is quite a fascinating subject.  The business Earthship Biotecture offers internships, seminars, events, nightly rentals, and even kits to build your own!

Below is the plan of the custom model The Phoenix from the Earthship website.  This 3 bedroom, 2 bath house rents nightly.  It has a fish pond, birds, a jungle greenhouse, and grows food.

The Phoenix Custom Earthship--source

LINKS:
◊ interview  on youtube with architect Michael Reynolds, creator of Earthship Biotecture with a tour of an earthship 
◊ movie on youtube:  Garbage Warrior--documentary of the earthship movement
◊ "Sustainable Build" article on building green
◊ an account --an intern builds an Earthship
◊ Earthship Biotecture
◊ "Albuquerque Journal" article about students worldwide learning to build Earthships --with photos

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is  "E." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun!  


Thank you, Ms Jenny, for hostessing another round!

  
photos by me  © 2007   all rights reserved