An earthship touches down in Haiti
Earthship Biotecture founder Michael Reynolds travels to Haiti where he hopes his unique brand of 'radically sustainable' homes can play a part in the rebuilding effort.
Tue, Jul 27 2010 at 10:40 AM EST
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Photos: Earthship Biotecture The last time I checked in with “Planet Earthship,” it was to report on an earthship-inspired structure in Florida being built from "recycled and indigenous materials" by Bryan Roberts and a crew of volunteers.
Now, Michael Reynolds (or the “Garbage Warrior” — I like to call him the Oscar the Grouch of architecture), the visionary behind New Mexico-based Earthship Biotecture, has taken his self-sufficient, "radically sustainable" housing concept to Haiti, a country that may not be in the headlines as much these days but is still digging out and rebuilding after January’s devastating earthquake.
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, 64-year-old Reynolds visited Haiti earlier this month and — never one to rest on his laurels — got right to work. Within four days, with the help of a small team from Earthship Biotecture and nonprofit group Grassroots United, Reynolds rounded up a crew of 40 eager locals, ages 4 to 50, to pitch in and construct a 120 square-foot earthship under his guidance. Like other earthships, the earthquake- and hurricane-proof abode is built from dirt-filled tires (the standard earthship building blocks), plastic bottles, and other waste materials.
Although the Haitian earthship prototype isn't complete, Reynolds plans to return to Haiti in October to add solar panels, a rainwater harvesting system, flush toilets, and other features to the home that will make it less primitive and more in line with the more than 1,000 existing earthships scattered across the U.S. and Europe. From there, Reynolds hopes to construct an entire village of earthships outside of Port-au-Prince where, according to Reynolds, the “ … buildings would provide their own power, their own water, their own sewage (systems).”
Reynolds, who also visited the Andaman Islands in the wake of the 2004 tsunami, is optimistic that the earthship concept will catch on in Haiti and serve as an low-cost, super eco-friendly, and disaster-resilient housing option. In addition to providing shelter, he also believes that community-built earthshapes can provide a much-needed boost of morale among Haitians. He remarks on the first earthship-building process: “They built the building! The real thing that shows it’s possible for them to do it is that they did it.”
Click here to read more about Earthship Biotecture's Haiti Disaster Relief efforts, view more images, and to donate to the cause. Want an intimate tour of an earthship? Check out guest blogger David Quilty's two-part story on what it's like to vacation in one.
Via [The WSJ]
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Comments
Earthship Biotecture
03/21/2011 21:46 PM
New Video: Haiti Earthship Project overview.
http://earthship.com/haiti
Frank Schooley
02/28/2011 21:33 PM
Greetings,
We have developed a completely new idea for disaster housing, Shelter In A Day. We assure you that if you look it over, we'll make you two promises, one: that you have not seen anything like it anywhere and two: it is the most sensible design you have seen for disaster relief. Our house ships flat and assembles in a couple of hours using just included hammers and muscle power. Safe, strong and secure and inexpensive, this shelter is designed to last through the.... More
PF
02/28/2011 17:34 PM
On this page, you say you're going back in Oct 2010, but what happened?
At "January 20, 2011 at Earthship..." you say, the crew is preparing to go to Haïti for the 3rd time. What happened?
BTW, the above "Click here" links to http://earthship.com/haiti-disaster-relief.html -- which is 404! Where are more videos and pictures of your, now, 3.... More
Kevin Carney
09/24/2010 12:27 PM
Interesting, but I'm not certain they're structurally sound enough to withstand another earthquake or the next hurricane. We'll see.
Kevin @ Solera Home Improvement
Lucy
07/30/2010 22:45 PM
If all the money donated to the red cross had been donated to this cause - the people in Haiti would already be considered the most sustainable people in this World. Mix this with permaculture and you would have a phoenix.
Liliana
07/30/2010 10:28 AM
What an excellent and innovative idea! Use the materials on hand, appropriate for the climate, and sustainable in the long run. And make the whole creation look great. Wow!
Daniel
07/29/2010 18:00 PM
That's pretty awesome. I learned about the earthship designs a couple of years ago. Hadn't heard much about them recently until this article. As long as it can stand up to the weather (and withstand an earthquake), it could potentially be a great movement in the right direction.
JZ
07/29/2010 16:23 PM
I would like to direct you to this link and concept under the title
“Design for the Other 90% Exhibit + “Micro-Giving” Global Needs Index to Connect Rich to Poor/Fullfill Global-to-Local Requests” –
http://www.phibetaiota.net/?p=26742
Example: An African farmer needs a part for 1950’s Romanian pump. An aid worker posts need via UNICEF Rapid SMS. A
