Building an Earthship, Sustainable House Day 2016

Have you heard of an Earthship? Mr Recycled and I had heard about them, but knew very little about what they are until we got the opportunity to visit the Earthship at Ironbank in Adelaide, and take a tour as part of  Sustainable House Day 2016. More than 100 of Australia’s best environmentally sustainable homes will open their doors to the public on Sustainable House Day on Sunday, September 11. The national event will give people a rare view of exceptional homes designed, built or renovated with sustainability in mind and allow them to speak to and learn from homeowners. Battery storage with solar, green roofs, off-grid living, hemp walls and innovative sustainable gardens are just some of the features people are likely to see on Sustainable House Day. All homes opening their doors have a minimum of three sustainable features, including sustainable lifestyles and energy saving and healthy home practices.
**Please bear with the wind noise in some of the outside sections at the start of the video – it gets better and the inside is nice and quiet! This is real life, hand held video!

There is really a LOT of information in this video, so if you can watch through you will learn a lot about how to build an Earthship and the benefits of living in one. The design is based on Mike Reynolds’ Simple Survival Model Earthship. Designed and drafted by Marty in consultation with Mike Reynolds. You can see more about the project on Marty’s website here and visit the Earthship on Sustainable House Day. He is also planning to open the Earthship as a bed and breakfast accommodation once finished, so you could get the chance to stay in your very own Earthship.

Ironbank is a semi rural location about 30-40min drive South East of Adelaide, Australia in the City of Onkaparinga council zone. It will be a bed and breakfast (tourist accommodation) open to anyone who wants to experience Earthships, and it will be a test site where Marty can continue his Earthship research.
“I started Earthship Ironbank in 2009 at the drop of a hat” says Marty. Mike Reynolds was in town and it seemed like a great opportunity to start something. He led a team of about 25 people with some tyre wall construction and after about 3 hours they had 60 tyres pounded and a wall about knee high. See the Workshops page of Marty’s website if you are interested in learning about Earthships and helping with construction.
If you want an Earthship please consider Marty’s sustainable design consultancy Earthship Eco Homes, which aims to assist people with design, approval and construction of their Earthship. There is already an Earthship inspired home fully approved in Queensland and another one with Planning Approval in Western Australia.
See more about how to get involved in visiting homes in your area on sustainable house day here.
Helenx