Designs
Earthship Eco Homes has developed a range of designs that you can buy as a set of plans, or as the basis for a new custom design specially for you.
All the designs use all of the six Earthship Design Principles developed by Michael Reynolds' (earthship inventor/architect). The designs have been developed to ensure they address Australian building codes, standards, climate, termites, bushfires, etc.
There are designs for:
Wall construction materials can be changed to your taste. Some people are concerned about the use of tyres in Earthship walls and would prefer something different. We are sure that tyres are a safe, ecological and economical construction material, but acknowledge that other options have their own advantages in certain situations, hence we have developed a range of options for the main (retaining) wall that is fundamental to Earthship design.
External (retaining) wall options:
Internal wall construction options:
All the designs use all of the six Earthship Design Principles developed by Michael Reynolds' (earthship inventor/architect). The designs have been developed to ensure they address Australian building codes, standards, climate, termites, bushfires, etc.
There are designs for:
- small suburban blocks of land
- larger, rural blocks of land
- bushfire prone land
- sites with views to the south, east or west (note: Earthships always have amazing views to the north)
Wall construction materials can be changed to your taste. Some people are concerned about the use of tyres in Earthship walls and would prefer something different. We are sure that tyres are a safe, ecological and economical construction material, but acknowledge that other options have their own advantages in certain situations, hence we have developed a range of options for the main (retaining) wall that is fundamental to Earthship design.
External (retaining) wall options:
- Tyres (filled with compacted earth and rendered so you can't see the tyres)
- Rammed Earth
- Super adobe (sandbags)
- Concrete block (with render to hide the blocks)
- Pre-fabricated concrete panels (lifted into place with a crane)
Internal wall construction options:
- "Can walls" (aluminium cans in cement or earth mortar)
- "Bottle walls" (glass bottle bricks in cement or earth mortar)
- Mud brick
- Rammed earth
- Compressed earth blocks
- Cob
- Light earth
- Hempcrete
- Super adobe (sandbags)
- Timber framed with plasterboard (Gyprock)
- Brick
EarthBnB
EarthBnB is small, affordable and highly bushfire resilient. Ideal as a tiny home for 1 or 2 people, or as tourist accommodation.
Bushfire Family
The Bushfire Family design was developed to be highly resilient and highly defendable against bushfires. It is earth-sheltered and earth-covered with bushfire shutters on all the north facing windows and doors.
Suburban
The Suburban Earthship is designed to fit on a 30m x 30m (900m2) block of land. It has strawbale walls at the east and west ends of the building plus the typical Earthship tyre wall to the south, greenhouse to the north.
Suburban MB
The Suburban MB (mini berm) Earthship features some small south facing windows to admit extra light and cross ventilation. It will fit on a 30m x 20m block of land.
Vista
Earthship Vista is designed to provide views to the south, east and west via a strawbale "wing" which enables windows to be positioned to get the views. Strawbale walls provide excellent insulation, are ecological and economical, and (surprisingly) bushfire resilient.
Zero
Earthship Zero is designed for ultimate performance. Based on some of Michael Reynolds' most efficient designs, this Australian version has been prototyped at Earthship East Augusta with amazing results - super stable indoor temperatures with zero heating and cooling energy required! Outdoor entertaining areas are included in the design or can be left out to save money/space etc.
TropoPod
TropoPod is designed for the hot and humid tropics of far North Queensland. It is a modular design that is very easy to replicate and link together to form a larger home or eco-tourism, bnb type situation. For more info go to the project webpage.