duuvy jester

hi amos

Currently im not living in an earthship however i have lived in 3 in New Mexico and built 5 across the world, most of which being in Australia. we built the first complete one in australia actually!

i agree that calling them earthships are the biggest hurdle because it is a struggle for people to see beyond the dogma which has been created in that name. i would like to focus on helping with breaking the dogma rather than creating a new one. however we do label what we do 'regenerative biotecture' haha.

i found the earthships in new mexico the most comfortable and nurturing home that i have ever lived in easily. surrounding yourself with earth works well for human health. earth being negatively ionised and us being positively ionised, the balance and harmony is hard to avoid.

we are working at the moment on building a natural building/land design school which is entirely built by the students. we have just acquired the land and i am in the middle of writing it all up at the moment. we are in the sub-tropics so we will be focusing on breathability in walls (absorption and releasing of moisture), cross ventilation, insulative qualities, some thermal qualities and a large focus on vegetation in living areas. we are also focussing on keeping living areas small to assist in thermal consistency, less consumption and ease of construction.

hi there Bryant

i agree. saying earthships only work in the desert is like saying that permaculture only works in Tasmania. Thinking outside the box is essential i reckon. its about looking at the challenges that your bioregion presents and working how how to engage and work with those qualities. We are doing one at the moment which has a superadobe base, strawbale walls and green roof! it still has the interior botanical cells, it still heats and cools itself, it still harvests and reuses water four times (from garage roof), it still treats its own sewerage and grows food internally. the only thing that is different are the materials but its function, operation and core foundation is the same

hi miles! thanks for having me

tell you more? what would you like to know?

we are actually running courses at the moment in land and home design adaptation. that is pretty interesting

p.s loving this forum by the way

hey there yen

if you are building in a hot and humid climate, there are different qualities you are working with which require different execution.

for 1 - airflow. in humid climates you need to keep the moisture moving. when moisture is stagnant, it can breed and form mould. this can be a problem with these homes in humid climates. think of things like cross ventilation and natural, breathable walls.

2 - if you have heat all year round, you dont really need to worry about harvesting as much solar as possible. as a matter of fact you would want to focussing on shading your home. a decent veranda can take a nice chunk of heat out of your comfort zone as well as provide an area that encourages air flow.

3 - rainfall. most likely in that climate you will have high rainfall so design it so it encourages the movement of water and get creative with that.

here is an example of one we are building at the moment in australia. we are taking the earthship concept and applying it to the sub-tropics - http://terraeden.org/bam-right-in-the-kisser-session-one-recap-12/

Hi there folks

My name is Duuvy. I studied with Michael Reynolds in Taos, New Mexico in 2011 (i think it was). While there, i was opened up to an amazing world of potential when taught all about the Earthship concept. We got hands on building experience, theory classes, late night discussions and a foundation for our creative evolution.

Upon returning to Australia i was greeted with a mixture of people who loved the concept and a bunch of people who couldnt see beyond the materials used to benefit in what i believe to be one hell of an awesome design concept. So my mission became one of taking this awesome concept and making it malleable.

firstly, here is a crash course in what the concept is in one paragraph or less:

the earthship concept is made up of six integrated living systems, which are:

1. building with natural & recycled materials
2. thermal solar heating and cooling
3. power from renewable resources
4. harvesting rainwater
5. food production
6. sewerage treatment

now what separates this from other natural design concepts is the fact that all of the systems work in integration. take the water system for example. the water is harvested from the roof and is reused 4 times. the same body of water. it is used to shower and wash, then filter through an interior grey water cell which grows food and cleans the air, then is used to flush the toilet, then is used to grow more plants.

so the integration is where this concept comes alive. very similar to how the different zones in permaculture integrate with each other.

So what i am proposing is that people look at earthships as less of a dogmatic design that is only suited to deserts/made from tyres, etc and more of a malleable design concept that can be adapted to suit different bioregions.

any thoughts?