Built For the End of the World & Beyond | Inside This Earthship Tiny Home

I don't know what it is that makes me love Earthship so much. Maybe it's the fact that they're off the grid, ultra resilient, or maybe it's even the fact that, to me, they represent a kind of rebellion in architecture. Whatever it is that makes me love them, I do love them. And this one that we're about to visit is a beauty. G'day, Marty. It is so good to see you again, mate. You too, Bryce. Great. And here we are with another one of your fantastic creations. Yeah, yeah. You like it? I love it. This is probably the smallest Earthship I've ever seen. Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. There's not too many. I can think of one in Taos, maybe. Just a tiny little roundhouse thing. Yeah, this is fully functioning. It's got the bathroom. It's got the kitchen. It's all there. Yeah. So what size is this one? Pretty sure this is about 43 square meters, Bryce. That is very compact for an Earthship, isn't it? It's a pretty little Earthship. There's not many that small. Yeah. What was the reason for building this one so small? Well, I guess it was partly budget because every square meter of floor area costs you. So the smaller it is, the cheaper it is. But I think also, I mean, kind of the theme of your show, trying to make things smaller. That's the more ecological thing to do. And you can have a really great time in a tiny building. So, yeah. Especially with the way that you build these as well, where it is often communities coming together to sort of have these workshops and construct these spaces. Building it so much smaller must make the whole process a lot easier. Absolutely. Big part of the design of this building was that it needed to be simple so we could kind of get it done during a workshop really quickly. Now, I'm sure there are still those very, very few people out there that have never heard of an Earthship before. Can you just give me an overview of what is an Earthship and why do these make so much sense? Well, its primary goal is to be really self-sufficient, resilient and ecological or sustainable. And it takes a different approach to achieving those goals. Really big thing about an Earthship is its use of natural and recycled materials. And the really iconic one there is the car tyres that are filled with earth and then all the bottles that are used sort of decoratively. Another really important part of the Earthship concept is that it's really energy efficient. And it does that mainly by not needing an active heating or cooling system. So they maintain their temperature just naturally through the kind of cunning design. And then it's all about how do you provide power, water and sewerage treatment really ecologically and economically as well. And then also kind of the final principle is food production. And that's tied in really closely with the wastewater treatment systems that are built into the building. So another really important thing is all these ideas integrated really beautifully. They all kind of mesh together to support each other and result in these really amazing self-sufficient off-grid homes. Yeah, I think a lot of people look at Earthships as being very green and ecologically designed. But for me, when I think of Earthships, the big thing for me is that theme of resilience. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. I think with our changing climate and like this is a great example here, a bushfire almost hit this Earthship about two months ago. And so this idea of resilience, how can we sort of stand up to these new challenges that climate change is throwing at us? And not only that, it's even things like the pandemic. You know, it ties into like, you know, where does our food come from? Where does our power come from, our water? It's just fundamental to life on Earth. Yeah. And I think we're here in South Australia at the moment. And there's a lot that South Australia has in common with New Mexico, where the Earthship was developed, right? I mean, especially now, again, we're visiting you in the middle of a drought. That dam is completely dry. So structures like this that also preserve and help to reticulate water and utilise the grey water really well are becoming ever more important. Look, I couldn't put it any better, Bryce. That's so true. Earthships are one of the few buildings I see that are actually paying really close attention to water. Most buildings, it's like, oh, energy efficiency, blah, blah, blah. But Earthships are, you know, the ones in America that are even flushing their toilets with grey water that comes through the indoor garden. We're not allowed to do that here in Australia. But it's just another example, I guess, of how far behind and, you know, we've got so much to learn about being more efficient with water. Yeah, we sure do. And isn't that just so frustrating as well? Because I know when we met you earlier in your own Earthship, you were having issues with the council not allowing you to use grey water reticulation, which, in an environment like this, is just absolutely ludicrous. Do you see that getting any better? Or is it something that the councils and bureaucrats are still kind of resistant to? Yeah, well, I think we're going on seven or eight years ago now, when you interviewed me in my Earthship. Thankfully, I'm so happy to say that there's been a bit of a change in attitude and now it's really easy to get approval for one of these systems. We actually apply to the South Australian Health Department. They kind of sit above the council in terms of how things are approved and we kind of go into a higher authority. That is great news as well. And I think probably you're largely responsible for that as well because with your Earthship, one of the things that you had done really well was your monitoring. You were really monitoring and testing everything. So you had all of that data to be able to show, hey, these are safe, they work, they function, they make sense. That's right. The thing I love to measure is the temperature, indoors and outdoors, and then you can very clearly show how energy efficient and comfortable the building is. The same goes for other aspects of the building. I did once have a master's student come and stay in the Earthship for a week and he was actually measuring the amount of water going into the greywater system and the amount coming out. Yeah, we've actually done some quite rigorous scientific work on the performance of the building and that's what convinces the regulators to change their codes. Yeah, absolutely. Can we talk about how these are actually made and what they're made from? Yeah, well, I guess there's a bit of a myth out there that Earthships are made out of kind of 100% natural and recycled materials. And I mean, you look at the building, you realise, well, it's got glass, you know, like all buildings. And there's a whole lot of other things like that that are just very common. But the big difference is the load-bearing, retaining walls around the back of the building that are covered over with earth, lime or cement plaster, cement on the outside of the building where it's got to be weatherproof. But on the inside, we use earth because that's more ecological and fun to, you know, to mix and apply. The bottles are very obvious and the bottles are great because they actually displace other materials that would otherwise need to be purchased. And, you know, there's always carbon emissions and pollution associated with any material that you're working with. And things like concrete are very high in that embodied energy. So those bottles are displacing concrete that would otherwise be used. We've got natural materials like the slate, the flagstone in the floor. So, yeah, we've also got obviously the natural material of timber. This is a bushfire resilient and termite resilient material. The thinking behind these material selections is all to do with things like durability, you know, the longevity of the building. The slate came from a nearby quarry. Fair to say that the materials were all sourced very locally. Absolutely. One of the biggest criticisms that I see about the materials of building an earthship come from the car tyres. And people are concerned about the leaching of some of the toxins from the car tyres and that affecting the health quality of the home. What's your thoughts on that? There's no really good evidence online I've found about this issue other than kind of the anecdotal evidence. All the people that I met, they were happy, healthy people. When I walked into their homes, I couldn't smell tyres. But I did fairly recently go and buy an air quality monitor that measures VOCs, volatile organic compounds. That's the off-gassing from anything, by the way, not just tyres. And I put one in my earthship and very happy to report there was, you know, really good quality of the indoor air. You know, I mean, there's tyres in the walls, but they're all covered by an earth render. Yeah. So I think the earth render is actually one of the keys to, you know, protecting the tyres from sun and heat and that's preventing any off-gassing. I'm more concerned about, I mean, another experiment I did with the air quality monitor in the earthship was I rolled out my yoga mat. That was actually the thing that triggered this whole experiment. Like one day I was like, why are the VOC levels so high in the earthship? I was like, what's going on? It was my yoga mat that I'd sort of carelessly left out. I usually roll it out, put it away. This time I'd left it out. The sun had hit it and boom, like that thing was off-gassing like crazy. So really the key there is good ventilation. And the earthship does that so beautifully with the, you know, the underground earth tube passive cooling system, having that air constantly flowing through the building naturally with no fans, no moving parts. Hopefully that gives some people some reassurance that tyre walls are not causing poor indoor air quality. Yeah. So there's going to be a lot of people feeling better about earthships now, but looking at their yoga mat sideways, I think. Yeah. So talking about the earth tubes that you've built into this home, how does that work? It's a common design feature in earthship buildings. It's an underground pipe that draws fresh air in through the pipe naturally by air escaping out of the sunroom in the earthship. And as the air travels slowly through the pipe, it has time to change temperature because of the relatively cool temperature of the earth around the tube can be 40 degrees outside. And by the time the air gets inside, it's 20 degrees. And then amazingly in the winter, if it's say zero degrees outside, the air's coming in at about 14 degrees. This is like a sort of passive air conditioning system that works 24-7. And it's ancient technology that was used in Middle Eastern desert climates. Yeah. That just makes so much sense, doesn't it? Yeah. And then another characteristic of earthships, which really speaks to this resilience model, is all of the off-grid technology. Can you talk to me about that and how that's utilized in this home? Yeah. Well, I think one of the cool things about earthships is that the off-grid technology can be minimized because it's such an inherently efficient building. You know, we don't need to use energy for heating and cooling, for example. So that means our off-grid energy system, the batteries and the solar panels can be scaled right back down. By minimizing all that stuff, we're minimizing the cost of that system and we're minimizing the ecological impact. So it's also, I guess, a strategy to try and integrate it into the design of the building. So on this particular building, because of the earth roof, the panels are kind of mounted on these little structures out the front of the building. And another thing I like about that is it's sort of easy to maintain. It's sort of like you're not climbing on the roof. And in a moment, I really want to go inside the earthship. But first, I just have to give a shout out to this location. What a spot you had to build this! Wow! Yeah, we were so lucky. We were camped here for four weeks. 30 to 40 of us. There was always 10 extra people on weekends. And we just had a terrific time. And yeah, Chad and Emily, they were the owner builders who created all of this. They just set up the most brilliant kind of outdoor lounge room and camp kitchen with shipping containers and everything. And there was just, you know, tents and caravans everywhere. They've got so much space for, you know, doing all this kind of stuff. So it was just an absolute blast. Yeah. And for me, I think that is one of the coolest things about building earthships. It is this joint process of creation where people come together, they exert creativity and put effort into building something truly special. It continues to blow my mind that people keep showing up for these projects. So, oh, just so grateful to everyone who does that. It's amazing. Absolutely. Well, it's a lot of fun. That's why. Oh, it is fun. It's a lot of fun. That's the secret. Well, from the outside, this is already just so impressive and I cannot wait to see what you've done inside. Can we check it out? Yeah, let's go. Let's go. We're inside the earthship now. But one of the things that I love about earthship design is that here standing in this entranceway, I almost feel like I'm more outside than I was before. I love that, Bryce, because I think the same. To me, this is more outdoors than indoors. Yeah. And it's because of the plants, I think. And I suppose it's also all this glass. Part of the idea of this space is it's a thermal buffer zone. So let's say it's 40 degrees outside. It might be 30 in here. Yeah. But it's better having 30 degree air acting on the indoor spaces than 40 degree air. For sure. So this is always kind of moderating the temperature that's kind of acting on what's going on in that living space. Yeah. Well, I was cooking out there and here it is definitely a lot more temperate. Yes. There's sometimes, like in the middle of a summer's day, you wouldn't want to be in here. You'd sort of be in there with these double glazed doors closed. I don't know, but I'd say most of the time, this is a really lovely space to hang out. And that's why there's a couch here and these bifolding windows open up that kind of connects in to this indoor space as well. Yep. Fair enough too. But I really feel it is important to have that space in a home where you can escape from the elements, get out of the extreme heat or the extreme cold or the rain, but still feel like you're really connected to the outdoors. And I think this space just functions so perfectly for that. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And I don't know if I should let you in on one of my crazy fantasies, which is that... Oh, go on. You have to. Because part of the idea of earthships is that they're really bushfire resilient. And I have this kind of wild and weird fantasy that in a bushfire, I could just sort of be lying in there on the bed and kind of like more or less hit the button on a remote control. And like sprinklers start spraying and misting in here. And like through the mist, I can just kind of see the fire burning and not have to worry because I know I'm in this really fire protected home. Well, fires are becoming so prevalent in so many regions all across the world, but we're not changing how we're building our structures. We build our homes like tinder. Whereas in a space like this, there is just nothing to burn. Yeah, that's the idea. But I still hope you never really have to test it. Plus, when I think of earthships, it's so easy just to talk about the function of these structures. But what often gets overlooked in all of this functionality is the fact that they're just so beautiful. They look so cool. Could you imagine if this sort of building had mass adoption? Because I'm so critical of how we build our towns, our villages, our communities nowadays. I feel like somewhere in the process of trying to make everything as cheap as possible, we've let beauty escape from the equation. And for me, earthships really bring it back to that. It is function. It is cost effective. But it's built as an art piece. Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Bryce. That's so beautifully put. And I'm kind of guilty of focusing a lot on functionality and how things work. That's just the way my brain works. But I do really appreciate the beauty of these buildings. Yeah. I mean, this is all very different to a typical home, which I like to sort of cheekily describe as a white box. Yeah. You know, which can be quite sterile. Yeah. Whereas this is the opposite of that. And it's really cool to see the banana trees and the lemongrass in here as well. Because in permaculture, these are often combined for greywater treatment, which is awesome in here. Look, we've got food growing on our doorstep. There you go. In greywater. Yeah, it makes so much sense. And then obviously, as the size of earthships increases, these gardens become way more elaborate, don't they? That's right. So in a larger family sized home, this greenhouse would stretch out the full length of the building in that east and west direction so that we're still facing north. And yeah, these gardens can be really very extensive. Yeah, very exciting. And then down the end of the greenhouse area, we've got the bathroom, which again, is so beautifully done. That shower with the view out looking to the horizon, spectacular. Yeah, yeah, it's not bad. And then you're also looking out to the outdoor bathtub. Yes. I have had the privilege of staying here one night. Great. So yeah, I've experienced all these things firsthand. It's absolutely beautiful. It sure is. And there is a conventional flushing toilet in this earthship. So this is still connected to a septic system. That's right. There is a septic system. I guess that's one of my last frustrations with earthships in Australia is that we're not yet allowed to use the greywater that comes out of these greywater gardens to flush the toilet like they do in America. We're still not quite at that point with our regulations in Australia. I think one day we'll get there. One day soon, hopefully. Yeah. And look, the other thing to say about the flushing toilet is although we're flushing with fresh water, that is all ending up in the septic tank and then going out to an irrigation area where it's great to plant fruit trees and things like that. Yeah. And shall we push further into the home? Yeah, let's go. Let's go. This is just so beautiful. And it really does feel like a cave, doesn't it? It does. A really beautiful cave. A really beautiful, slightly modernized cave. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, people often kind of criticize earthships in terms of that caviness. And I think they imagine them to be dark and dismal. But this is a beautifully designed cave. It just lets so much light in. And I think it's also the white lime render on the ceiling and the walls that's just reflecting a lot of light. The floors in here are really lovely as well. What is this made of? This is just a fairly standard concrete slab, but it's been stained with a chemical that's used as a fertilizer. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's iron sulfate. And the iron gives it that color when it reacts with the concrete. And it's just a lovely way to make a grey concrete floor look beautiful. It really does, because I would have thought that this was a kind of earthen floor looking at it. It does look like that. I don't know. It is a bit of an ecological compromise because as I've said already, concrete is not great. But on the other hand, it's very durable. Yes. And it's going to require very minimal maintenance. For example, in the sunroom there, we've got slate floor. So yeah, rather than poor concrete out there, we've just limited it to here. Yeah. And personally, again, I'm quite comfortable with that ecological compromise when you have a material that is going to stand the test of time. That's right, Bryce. It's about looking at that whole lifespan of the building and prolonging the lifespan is a great ecological outcome. Very true. You know, another thing that I just love in here is the lighting. This is so beautifully done. Yeah. I can't take all the credit for that. Chad and Emily made some great decisions on the lighting. They purchased a really primo LED lighting system. You can change the colours and it can do amazing things. And then, yeah, there's other beautiful light fittings all around the building. So it looks great. Yeah. And it's a very simple design in here, but there's absolutely everything you need. Good sized kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen works. And again, Chad and Emily and, yeah, like some of the other really creative people who were here kind of actually did some of the detailing on that. Like these, I'm pretty sure are can walls or bottle walls that have been all rendered over. So rather than do your standard carcasses with, you know, doors and things, this is a really nice minimal approach, which I think, especially for a B&B, everything's really, you can see where everything is. You're not like hunting through cupboards, but yeah, it all just sort of like works with all the Earthship construction methods. It just sort of looks appropriate. It sure does. And then we've got the bed here as well. I really like the way that the headboard is built into the back wall there. Yep, that's another one I've got to give credit to Chad and Emily for. That was their idea. And of course, with the curved wall, it's nice just to sort of have that little bit of flattened wall and it just created these beautiful shelves. And yeah, it's just beautifully done. Yeah, there's lots of storage under this bed as well. Yes, there is. Yeah, the furniture selection all has been considered really carefully and like the colours and it all just works so beautifully. Yeah, and then the dining table as well, looking out onto the lovely garden there. Yeah, there's nothing that seems out of place. It's beautiful. I completely agree. And over there, we've got the earth tubes. Yeah, you can see the doors are open. I can see some little magnets and things to keep them closed because they do tend to like sort of, you know, wind sometimes will gust through there. Right. And kind of pop them open. So that's what the magnets are for. In the winter, probably good to keep them closed. Air can still get through there. And so you'll get some natural passive ventilation in the winter with those doors closed. In the summer and on a lovely sunny day like today, yeah, why not have them right open and get that full cross ventilation effect? But yeah, they really shine in the middle of summer when it's 40 outside. That'll be bringing in 20 degree air. Yeah. So brilliant. That's why they're there. And the mesh to keep the snakes out. Yeah, there is mesh on there. And that's one of the first questions people ask when I'm showing people around my earthship is like, you know, don't snakes and critters get up there? I'm like, no, no, no. Look, there's flywire on there. So yeah, you don't have problems with insects and other creatures getting in. Yeah, absolutely. So this is such a unique style of building. And there's obviously so much labor that goes into constructing one of these things. There's so much design consideration. What does one of these actually cost to build? I think this one was about $250,000 completed with things like, you know, 20 grand's worth of septic tank system. I think there's a bit of a myth that earthships are cheap to build because they're built out of car tires and beer bottles and this kind of thing. But they are very labor intensive. And we kind of solve that problem with the workshop model of, you know, inviting volunteers to come and help. So that helps a lot with the labor intensity of filling tires and doing all these earth renders, which are also quite labor intensive. The thing about an earthship is it's kind of like so much more than a regular building because you've got all those renewable energy systems and off-grid systems for water. We've sort of got that bushfire resilience thing going on. Like so building an earth roof like this isn't necessarily the cheapest way to build a roof, but it's giving you that resilience against the bushfire. So it's spending a little bit more on a building that is going to resist the bushfire or whatever natural disaster or man-made disaster you're trying to defend yourself against. It's sort of like that investment, I suppose. So recently you have chucked in your job at the university and you are going all in on earthships now. Talk to me about that. Yeah, it was a very exciting time. Took a lot of courage because I've been at the university for 20 years teaching product design and sustainable design. And I'm just very excited now to be designing earthships full-time. And I'm spending a lot of time in my earthship sort of using that as an office space and I'm just sort of, yeah, probably transitioning away from it being a B&B, maybe really loving it. So very happy with my decision and glad I took the plunge. Yeah, congratulations. So where do you see the future of earthships going? Well, I think the future of earthships is probably going to be buildings that are earthships but they're not referred to as earthships because the name earthship, I think, is quite confusing to a lot of people and off-putting. So where does that name earthship come from? Why do we call them that? Yeah, so Michael Reynolds is the inventor of the earthship idea. He's written lots of books about it. And yeah, he came up with the term earthship to describe this self-sufficient building, little bit like a sailing ship on the ocean or a spaceship out in space. They can't just hook up to the grid. The building has to do everything for itself. Also, we're talking about planet earth. So it's this thing that helps us humans live on planet earth. And it's also built with lots of earth. That's one of the main materials is we're using earth to create this thing. So yeah, that's kind of three reasons why it's an earthship. Makes sense. And so back to what you were saying about the future of these earthships. Maybe my answer to this question is I see the future as a lot more people getting involved in their own construction projects as owner-builders and probably more tradespeople who are excited about becoming a tyre pounder. Then there'd be people you can pick up the phone and call and be like, yeah, hey, come and build me an earthship. Yeah, I would love to see that as well. That would be really exciting. Wouldn't it? Earlier, we visited Amy's earthship as well, which is just such a spectacular build. And you had a hand in designing that one as well, didn't you? Yes. Yep. And also helped coordinate the workshop and lead that. And yeah, like we often do, we all come together for four weeks and with Amy's, cause she was building in the suburbs. Yeah. We have this kind of challenge where's everyone going to camp? And so Amy just had this brainwave and she hired the local pony club, which was like 10 acres of just flat land, which also had a toilet and shower. And we set up bell tents for our camp kitchen. And it was just like, you know, tent city at the pony club. And so, yeah, like on weekends, you know, they'd kind of fence us off with ropes and there'd be pony club people riding ponies. So yeah, it was just an amazing project from that point of view. And Amy's earthship was such a cool project as well, because frequently when I have visited earthships, they tend to be in places like this, where there's lots of space around them and they're quite rural. But hers was a real suburban home and it was very cool to see an earthship in amongst all of the conventional houses. Driving down the street, like there's house, house, house, earthship. And it's sort of like, it really, yeah, it's quite a striking difference on that streetscape. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Well, Marty, this is just another really impressive project of yours. I am so excited to see what you've constructed here. And I cannot wait to see what's next for you as well. No doubt, there's going to be lots more of these in the pipeline. Thank you so much for sharing this with me. Oh, it's been a pleasure, Bryce. Thank you. Pleasure's all mine, mate. Great to see you again. Thank you. The movie Garbage Warrior, which detailed Michael Reynolds' initial journey into building earthships, was actually my very first exposure to the world of alternative building. Watching that film in a big way cascaded my journey into alternative architecture and inevitably into tiny houses. And so I have a very special affinity with earthships. Watching what Marty is creating in spaces like this just continues to inspire me. And I cannot wait to see where the future of these buildings goes.