Newsletter #177 - The Earthship
My stay in a self-sustaining desert spaceship
A few years ago I went out to Taos, New Mexico, to stay in an Earthship and work on a project with
.
To be honest, before this commission, I hadn't even heard of this type of architecture, but after seeing photographs of it, I was immediately intrigued. Who wouldn't be fascinated by an off-grid passive house made of tires and bottles shaped like a spaceship and built into the desert sand?
Earthships emerged in the early 1970s, created by architect Michael Reynolds. Motivated by environmental concerns and the oil crisis of that era, Reynolds sought to design homes that addressed multiple challenges: waste management, energy independence, and affordable housing. The first prototype used discarded materials like tires packed with dirt for thermal mass, glass bottles for natural lighting, and innovative water harvesting systems.
The fundamental reason someone builds an Earthship is simple: to create a self-sustaining home that operates independently of external infrastructure while minimizing environmental impact.
Earthships are designed around six core principles: thermal/solar heating and cooling, generating electricity on-site (typically with solar panels), water harvesting through rainwater collection, contained sewage treatment, food production using indoor growing spaces, and using recycled and natural building materials.
I was blown away by the home and the architecture. It was truly unlike anything else I had ever experienced - part spaceship, part hobbit hole, part greenhouse. And amid all of that, a perfectly normal, comfortable living space - it was surreal.
Wait. Do you see that?
It’s a mountain bluebird in the field behind the Earthship. Probably not rare for here, but rare for me!
Anyway, this integrated approach allows residents to live "off-grid," with minimal utility bills and carbon footprint, while still enjoying modern comforts. Beyond practicality, many Earthship owners are motivated by a philosophical alignment with sustainable living principles, and a desire to demonstrate that comfortable human habitation doesn't require conventional resource-intensive building methods.
Wait, sorry. Do you see that?
That is a Say’s Phoebe collecting material for a nest it built above the front door. Never seen this kind of Phoebe before. Add it to the life list.
After this trip, I was all in on Earthships, and I started wondering if I should buy one, or maybe even try to build one back home.
I imagined myself packing tires with dirt, collecting bottles from my neighbors, and harvesting rainwater in cisterns. Becoming an eco-warrior.
Of course, by the time I got home, I realized this all sounds like a lot of work, and besides, I already have a house.
But I'll always be inspired by what I experienced, and I hope that if this is your first introduction to the architectural concept of an Earthship, you'll look into it more and maybe find some inspiration for an upcoming project.
Trent, one of the owners of the Earthship I was staying at, did a walk-through tour for me and explained all of the aspects of the home. Check out this video and watch him explain how it all works. I think it’s truly fascinating.
If you are interested in staying at this Earthship and experiencing it yourself, you can find it on Airbnb here.
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Thank you!
Special thanks to Trent Wolbe, Jeff Thrope, Cabin Porn, and Tin Cup Whiskey.
Kristen Neufeld stayed at the same Earthship a month later and saw a pinyon jay and a scaled quail.
Zach Vitale hasn’t been the same since the mothership abandoned him.
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I lived in an earthship built at about 8,000 feet in the Colorado mountains my last year of college. There could be 2 feet of snow outside and we would be walking around in shorts harvesting tomatoes and rosemary from the indoor garden. My roommate had every season of Northern Exposure, Dream On and the Larry Sanders show on VHS. Best place I ever lived.
My husband went out for a run last week and mentioned he'd seen a large unfamiliar bird. He'd taken a picture for me. When I saw the picture, I gasped, "Holy shit. Why didn't you call me immediately?! That looks like a Crested Cara Cara." I jumped in the car to drive to the spot where he'd seen them to see if they were still there. They were!