Earthships in New Mexico
When first hearing the word "earthships" it inspires futuristic space-like imagery. The reality of an earthship, is in my opinion, almost cooler. Created by architect Michael Reynolds, these structures are fully self-sustainable and made out of materials that most would consider trash.
The main thought behind the earthships was to create homes that were self-sustainable and had low to none reliance on outside resources that most of the world depends on for every second of daily life. Earthships are made to be self-regulated temperature wise, as well as house solar panel to create greenhouses. Many of the typical functions of a home that are accomplished with fossil fuel energy such as sewage treatment, production of food, and electricity, are things that an earthship has through its own natural function.
As for the design of an earthship, often they are made with recycled materials, such as old tires. There isn't an exact manual for what to build earthships with, rather they are constructed with materials at hand that can help to insulate the temperature of the home.
Michael Reynolds has been building these earthships for a long time, and created communities of earthship homes. The concept of an earthship is a really unique and exciting concept, unfortunately, it would be difficult to convince a lot of Americans to ditch the suburban sprawl for something that seems so out there.
Personally, I really like the concept of earthships, but I am not sure how I would feel living in one. I expect that you would have to be super into the idea of "living off the grid" so to speak to want to live in one. I also think that if they were able to commercialize the building of these earthships, and start integrating them into normal communities, they would increase the interest and support for these types of homes. The fact that these types of communities are branded as being a little bit "cultish" by onlookers it makes earthships into a fringe concept that many people aren't willing to try.
Like I mentioned earlier, I love the concept of self-sustainability in homes, and honestly, the aesthetics of these homes are pretty nice. However, the cult-like following and the isolation of these communities has made this seem like a really odd and "out-there" concept to the average American. I think a good solution for this issue would be to integrate them into your "typical" neighborhoods to increase education and gain the interest from the general public.
If you want to learn more about earthships or how to buy one, check out earthships.com.
I find the earthships fascinating as a concept and I think a lot of what they are doing could be derived in a more contemporary manner. I think you're right on the "off-the-grid" aspect of these homes, so if we modernized and manufactured much of the process, I think these could be commercialized and widely used. Everyone needs WiFi and air conditioning! When I first started architecture school, my family asked what my life-long goal would be as an architect, and I told them "I want to create a plan for mass producing self sustaining homes at an affordable cost" which seems impossible as we have difficulty even achieving one of those facets, but I think a derivative of an earthship could absolutely be a move in the right direction. One difficulty, perhaps, is the locality and uniqueness of the materials used in construction. I believe most of the materials are local materials that are sourced close by, which means mass production would be limited to specific areas and that would slow down the process exponentially. Perhaps we could use the earthships to propose techniques, methodologies, and frameworks for designing that reduce of the exclusion and enhance the production and livability of these homes!
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