Earthship Ironbank, Ironbank SA

Earthship Ironbank is Australia's first council approved Earthship, designed by Martin Freney, his first Earthship inspired project. The aim was to prove that you could legally build an Earthship in Australia. It was endorsed by Michael Reynolds of Earthship Biotecture who lead a workshop on day 1 of construction in July 2009, pounding tyres with 25 volunteers. Mike returned to stay a few nights in 2017 and, of course, to pound more tyres. Earthship Ironbank was built by largely by volunteers who came from far and wide to get inspired and learn about this wonderful branch of natural building. It is now an Airbnb that YOU can enjoy and maybe get inspired and build an Earthship yourself. Search for "Earthship Ironbank" on Airbnb!

The design is inspired by Reynolds' Simple Survival Model Earthship although there are quite a few innovations... a gravel roof (green roof) for bushfire resistance and water filtration, hempcrete insulated entry and bathroom ferrocement vaults, operable skylights in the greenhouse, twin front facing earthtubes (for extra summer cooling and to deal with site slope), increased north facing roof for additional solar panels and hot water service, indoor battery storage (to reduce battery temp - batteries like being cool), outdoor pump and valve box (to reduce noise), side entry, framing for shade sails on the greenhouse glazing to deal with summer heat (if necessary), fire sprinklers....

It has numerous sensors to monitor air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and even the air speed in the earth tubes. The aim of this is to learn more about how Earthships work and to quantify the energy efficiency.

See the Earthship Ironbank website for details about tours, open days, BnB and the project itself.

Earthship Ironbank under construction  - January 2015 workshop. See the Earthship Ironbank website for many more photos!
​