Earthships: the off-grid homes built to weather any future
In the high desert outside Taos, New Mexico, a cluster of otherworldly homes rises from the sagebrush. Curved walls sparkle with embedded glass; thick earthen berms blunt the wind. These are Earthships—self-sufficient buildings conceived more than 50 years ago by architect Michael E. Reynolds, founder of Earthship Biotecture.
Michael Reynolds has been building earthships, homes from trash for decades
An Earthship is designed to provide six human essentials from one structure: shelter, power, water, waste management, food, and thermal comfort. To do it, Earthships combine thermal mass (often earth-packed tires) and passive solar design for heating and cooling; rainwater collection with filtration and staged reuse (potable → greywater for plants → blackwater); and on-site renewable energy via rooftop solar (sometimes wind). Many include lush indoor greenhouses that turn wastewater into tomatoes, herbs—even bananas in alpine climates.
“After decades of trial and error, I finally feel like I know what I’m doing,” says Reynolds. “Now I’m spending the rest of my life sharing that knowledge.”
Who’s behind the movement
Reynolds began experimenting in the early 1970s—famously with can-and-bottle “bricks”—and formalized the approach as Earthship Biotecture. Today, his team’s projects span climates and countries, from luxury models like the Phoenix Earthship to pared-back disaster-relief builds.
For a Green Prophet primer from the archives, see “How to build an Earthship”.
This earthship home in Phoenix is built from trash
A new virtual space: Earthship Backstage
To open up five decades of R&D, Earthship Biotecture recently launched Earthship Backstage, a members-only archive packed with original drawing sets, concept art, construction animations, engineering notes, rare books (including The Coming of Wizards), and Q&A videos with Reynolds. It’s both a living museum and a practical toolkit for builders, students, and policy-minded skeptics.
Learn it, then localize it
Earthships aren’t meant to be copied blindly from Taos; they’re a set of principles that adapt to place. If you’re Earthship-curious, start small and start local:
- Learn the principles—passive solar, thermal mass, staged water reuse, on-site renewables, and indoor food systems. A concise intro lives at Earthship.com.
- Check codes early—zoning and building rules vary widely. (Green Prophet has covered low-carbon building pathways across the region; e.g. adobe & straw in Israel.)
- Get hands-on—Earthship Biotecture runs Weekend Seminars in Taos (next up: Sept 27–28, 2025) and an in-person Academy, with a condensed one-week format launching in 2026.
- Use local materials—the “earth-first” ethic means sourcing what’s abundant and climate-appropriate.
- Prototype—build a greenhouse, studio, or battery room to master techniques before committing to a full home.
Materials & strategies by climate
One strength of Earthship design is material flexibility. The table below suggests starting points; always tune to local codes, hazards, and supply chains.
| Climate / Biome | Locally abundant materials | Design focus | Green Prophet context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forests / Temperate | Timber, straw bales, local stone, earth-packed tires | Moisture control, air-tightness, high insulation R-values | Strawbale how-to |
| Desert / Hot-dry | Rammed earth, adobe, tires, bottle/can infill | Thick thermal mass, shaded glazing, earth tubes for cooling | Adobe & straw in arid zones |
| Cold / Mountain | Stone, insulated rammed earth, straw bale hybrids | South glazing, vestibules, storm-resilient detailing | Earthship basics |
| Tropical / Humid | Bamboo, reclaimed hardwoods, lime plasters | Cross-ventilation, wide eaves, mold-resistant assemblies | Bamboo architecture |
| Urban / Resource-constrained | Salvaged brick, reclaimed concrete, upcycled composites | Small footprints, shared systems, creative reuse | Waste-to-house case study |
Regional starting points
- Middle East & North Africa (desert/arid): prioritize adobe/rammed earth, deep overhangs, night-flush ventilation; study vernacular masters like Hassan Fathy and New Gourna (read more).
- Levant & Mediterranean (hot-dry summers, cool winters): hybridize stone or compressed earth with high-performance glazing and shading; consider cistern-centric water layouts.
- Europe & North America—temperate/forest: straw-bale skins over earth-tire cores boost R-value; manage vapor carefully in wet seasons.
- Cold continental/mountain: increase insulation, add airlocks/vestibules, optimize solar gain windows with insulated shutters; greenhouses double as heat buffers.
- Tropical coastal: trade some mass for ventilation and shade; specify borate-treated bamboo and lime plasters to resist pests and mold.
Why it matters now
Grids strain under heat waves and storms; water scarcity grows; construction waste piles up. Earthships aren’t a universal answer—permits can be hard, sweat equity is real, and costs concentrate up front—but they’re proof that buildings can deliver resilience rather than passively consume it. They’re also a cultural bridge: a modern system that honors vernacular wisdom, from Nubian vaults to Mediterranean stonework.
Get involved
Bill and Athena Steen, strawbale building
- Explore the archive: Earthship Backstage
- Go hands-on: Weekend Seminar (Sept 27–28, 2025) or the
Earthship Academy (condensed 1-week format from 2026) - Primer and context on Green Prophet:
Earthship 101 •
Adobe & straw in Israel •
Strawbale how-to
Further reading on natural building (Green Prophet archive)
Hassan Fathy’s off-grid living and architecture inspired generations of architects in the Middle East and beyond.
- Hassan Fathy: the Middle East’s father of sustainable architecture
- New Gourna & Hassan Fathy’s earth architecture for the people
- How to build an Earthship
- Building with adobe and straw in Israel
- Build your own strawbale home (Canelo Project)
- The strawbale house in Israel
- Micro-financed straw houses for Pakistan (quake-resistant)
- Five innovative firms building with bamboo
- Tiny house built with diaper–concrete upcycling
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
