How to Build Beautiful Houses from Tires, Bottles, and Mud

RODALE NEWS, STATE COLLEGE, PA—This week Rodale.com will continue reporting on the 2011 Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Conference, which featured the latest information about organic and sustainable living, including the looming threat of GMO crops. Here's a look back at last year's keynote speaker, featuring fantastic examples of architecture that uses repurposed materials.

Times are changing. Clean-water shortages, a changing climate, and dwindling oil reserves loom before us. But as the face of our planet changes, our houses that guzzle up all these resources, for the most part, aren't adapting. And maybe humans aren't as great at adapting to life on Earth as we think. "In effect, it's like we landed on the Earth, because we don't know how to live here," says Michael Reynolds, creator of the sustainable-building company Earthship Biotecture. As the keynote speaker at this year's Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture conference, Reynolds explained how the "sustainable" concept can apply to architecture as well as agriculture.

For the last four decades, Reynolds has been experimenting with developing systems (and sometimes breaking the law in the process) to build self-sufficient, off-the-grid "Earthship" homes made mostly out of natural and recycled materials like bottles, cans, tires, straw, and mud. Pictured here is an Earthship project located in Jamaica. Reynolds says he and his crew were able to make good use out of mountains of blue Skyy vodka bottles that most resorts on the island send to the dump.

One of the main components of an Earthship is the material that keeps it warm without burning fuel or electricity—old tires picked up from the local dump. "There's never a shortage of tires," Reynolds says. "They're everywhere on Earth." The ones in this picture are piled in California. Reynolds also told Rodale.com that off-gassing from the tires isn't an issue. Most are several years old, and researchers have found that they don't release anything that could contaminate a home's air or water.

In a process that Reynolds' crew calls "pounding tires," the builders tightly pack the tires in dirt taken from the construction site. This technique creates amazing insulating properties that help keep the home comfortable all year, without the use of fossil fuels.

The other secret to living comfortably off the grid? Building the home into the side of a hill, which creates a "thermal mass shelter" that protects the interior from temperature extremes.

Even when it's 35 below in the winter, or 95 degrees in the summer, an Earthship's temperature remains comfortable. The rooms where the residents spend the most time, such as bedrooms and living rooms, are usually around 70 degrees. Bathrooms are placed in areas where the temperature may drop a few degrees lower.

Glass bottles that flood trash dumps everywhere can be reused, creating beautiful Earthship walls that allow streams of natural light into the home. The crew just cuts the bottles in half then surrounds them with concrete or plaster to create glass-bottle bricks, which can be used like regular bricks but permit the passage of light.

The building methods for creating an Earthship are so easy that Reynold's organization often trains villagers in areas hit with disasters (like India after the 2004 tsunami) in how to use them. Next month, Reynolds and crew will head to Haiti to help earthquake victims there rebuild using reclaimed materials.

Even washing machines and car doors aren't safe from Reynolds' crew at the dump. They take saws to landfills and scrap-metal sites, cutting the metal to make roofing tiles. Metal roofs are beneficial in green building because they don't absorb heat during hot weather and raise cooling costs the way dark, shingled roofs do.

Earthships are being built all over the world. Some are huge and expensive, but others are priced similarly to conventional homes, square foot by square foot. The interior can be designed to suit the owner's preferences. Some, like this one, look like conventional living spaces.

Others can be superfunky (in a good way)!

Water reuse is a key strategy for Earthships. You don't need to hook up to the municipal water supply or drill a well. The water you'll use comes from filtered rainwater; the Earthship roofs are designed to catch it and send it to a cistern. The collected water is filtered by indoor plants and is reused before being discarded. Water and waste from your toilet and kitchen sink go through separate treatment system.

Wind or solar energy is used for power, and heated water comes from a solar hot-water heater. So there's no need to hook up to a utility company or depend on it for power. "These home are absolutely independent, and it's not rocket science," says Reynolds.

For more information, read Reynolds' books or check out Earthship Biotecture Sustainable Green Buildings.