Earthships in Australia
Earthship Eco Homes was founded by Martin Freney in 2014. The "mission statement" is simple: help get more people into Earthships.
Earthship Eco Homes has been involved with many projects throughout Australia. Some are briefly illustrated and described below to give an idea of the different things you can do with the Earthship design principles which can and should be adapted to suit each particular site. Issues such as bush fires, heat waves, termites, and national construction and energy efficiency codes demand that the Earthship be adapted to suit our Australian conditions and laws.
In many of the designs below, strawbale walls have been incorporated with tyre walls to introduce new design features such as small south facing windows for extra light and cross-ventilation, and to help connect to outdoor eating areas at the east or west ends of the building. Strawbale is a very energy efficient and ecological building material so its use in Earthships is appropriate. All the usual Earthship principles and design features are included with the addition of some new ideas.
Earthship Eco Homes has been involved with many projects throughout Australia. Some are briefly illustrated and described below to give an idea of the different things you can do with the Earthship design principles which can and should be adapted to suit each particular site. Issues such as bush fires, heat waves, termites, and national construction and energy efficiency codes demand that the Earthship be adapted to suit our Australian conditions and laws.
In many of the designs below, strawbale walls have been incorporated with tyre walls to introduce new design features such as small south facing windows for extra light and cross-ventilation, and to help connect to outdoor eating areas at the east or west ends of the building. Strawbale is a very energy efficient and ecological building material so its use in Earthships is appropriate. All the usual Earthship principles and design features are included with the addition of some new ideas.
Earthship Ironbank
Earthship Ironbank is Australia's first council approved Earthship. And it is open as a BnB! - search for Earthship Ironbank on AirBnB or click here.
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 workshops, tours, open days, BnB and the project itself.
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 workshops, tours, open days, BnB and the project itself.
Earthship Ironbank under construction - January 2015 workshop. See the Earthship Ironbank website for many more photos!
The Suburban Earthship - Candy's Earthship, Narara Eco Village NSW
This earthship inspired design in the Narara Eco Village NSW is a two bedroom design on a small suburban block of land only 15m in the north south direction. Consequently the berm behind the tyre wall is smaller than usual and it is retained by a sandstone garden wall. An irrigation system on the berm will help keep the earthtubes cool in the summer and provide nice cool air to the interior of the building. There is a curved strawbale wall at the east end with a big round window in it. A few photos below show this "suburban earthship" under construction in early 2019, many photos from an Earthship Eco Homes strawbale wall raising workshop. The owner, Candy, has moved in and is loving her Earthship!
Earthship Extension "Earthship Ironbank 2.0"
This earthship inspired building is an extension to an existing mud brick house in Ironbank SA (just down the road from Earthship Ironbank). The new earthship extension is connected to the existing house with a carport to satisfy council planning rules. The design incorporates tyre walls (approx 500 tyres), strawbale walls, and cob walls with a corrugated iron roof and concrete slab floor.
Earthship in Jurien Bay WA
Inspired by Reynolds' Global Model Earthship, this Earthship design in Jurien Bay WA features many of the classic Earthship design features but also incorporates outdoor eating area at west end and a carport at east end. Plus small south facing windows in a single course of strawbales which should be great for capturing the summer seabreezes. This ship is just 1km from the coast. The design features steel framing as Tristan has welding skills.
There is a bunch of youtube videos below made by Tristan to document the progress with their build which they are owner-building as a couple! Great job Tristan and Shiner! Some real innovations - see the first video for a mechanised way to compact earth into tyres.
There is a bunch of youtube videos below made by Tristan to document the progress with their build which they are owner-building as a couple! Great job Tristan and Shiner! Some real innovations - see the first video for a mechanised way to compact earth into tyres.
Earthship Fleurieu SA
Earthship Fleurieu, also known as The Plentiful Barn, near Yankalilla in SA is inspired by Reynolds' Global Model Earthship. The chimneys are "solar chimneys" designed to heat up in summer and provide extra draw on the earthtube ventilation system. There are three modules, one of which is a carport (slightly out of picture to the left) with two main modules that will allow the project to be built in stages if necessary.
We broke ground on this project in February 2019 by building a garden (tyre) wall that defines the northern edge of the building pad - a few photos below.
We broke ground on this project in February 2019 by building a garden (tyre) wall that defines the northern edge of the building pad - a few photos below.
Earthship in Bridgewater SA
This earthship inspired design replaces and old barn that is derelict and only good for demolition, however the barn's stone walls will be repurposed as construction materials and drainage materials behind the tyre wall. There were constraints imposed by council regarding the need to comply with the existing footprint of the existing building (old barn). Another constraint was the numerous garden walls that the earthship needs to fit within; they're beautiful walls so avoiding the need to demolish them was important. It has a tyre wall to the south with a course of strawbales on the tyre wall so that south facing windows can be included easily. The south facing windows allow extra light into the "ship" and also help with extra cross ventilation. A strawbale wall at the west end looking onto an outdoor eating area (pictured above) helps the thermal performance further. Hempcrete has also been used for some of the internal walls. A typical greenhouse to the north is going to provide extra heat on sunny winter days and an combustion stove will boost the heat in the winter. A slight roof overhang to the north will provide some shade to the greenhouse in the summer.
