This is BY FAR the nicest, cleanest, and most luxurious looking earthship I have ever seen. It's functional and beautiful. They often look makeshift, somewhat dirty and thrown together, but this guy did an excellent job with the design!
There is one I've seen that is an almost identical floor plan but in a more desert climate like Arizona. I think it's a bit better. The garden area is way more robust and full. This dude has tons of backup options though.
This is the nicest earthship adaptation I have EVER seen. It took the best of the earthship functionality model and added much upgraded design and clean lines. Excellent!
Absolutely beautiful! The craftsmanship that went into this earthship is truly breathtaking. Thank you Exploring Alternatives for this very well done video.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. This is like my dream home. One day, I'd like to build one similar to this. The indoor garden, recycled materials, solar panels.. Oh man. Beautiful
I could listen to Matt talk about his homes for ages. It's so fascinating to hear about such a thought out process. Earthships were my first love in alternative housing ideas. All the best everyone!
This is so awesome! All of my ideas I’ve had for an earthship is in this guys design. A wood stove to get heated water. Having the heated water run through the floors for heated floor. It’s amazing to see my ideas already in play in someone else’s house.
I like that he subtly lets us know that the solar panels weren't inexpensive, you know that the windowed front had to cost many thousands, plus having labor costs from people that do specific installations... This is an "alternative" structure not an inexpensive way to build. It is wise and you make the most of what you have with some return on investment but not a low budget build.
@@unintentionallydramatic people remodel their homes and throw away whole houses worth of good windows. Windows are free in USA check craigslist. Call a window contractor and take their trash. His solar system could be done for 10k if diy, tracking +relectors makes more sense.
Technically he never broke down and estimated cost per square foot. You're projecting that you think it's expensive because it seems daunting. If you have land for a ship you have land to work trade camping space for labor, anybody can do all this work. The real problem is government making stuff expensive w permits and imposing limits.
@@Sam-gy1rk He also didn't spend too much time explaining how except for some additional drinking water, Earthships in arid New Mexico provide enough water to wash, greywater the greenhouse and filtered greywater to flush the toilet out to a septic tank feeding another garden. Yet in verdant green Ontario, the city is worried whether there's enough rain just to flush the toilets.
@@ewellford the government is concerned they won't get money for permits to install well or tap water. Concerned a local plumber won't be payed $50+ an hour, while they also tax and permit him. It's all a mafia scheme. This is why people are homeless. The general population are ignorant sheep. Is illegal to be free.
I love the truth window! I'd never heard of that. And I love that all the pipes and wires are exposed in the mechanical room so you can see how everything works.
And you can easily repair any malfunctions! I had a copper pipe to my underfloor system spring a leak or two after 25 years, and was happy that all was easily accessible in the utility room, even though it's less attractive and harder to clean.
@Ruth...my first reaction to all that exposed copper pipe...I was wondering how much efficiency he is losing to heat radiation from the pipes. How much more efficient would his system be if he wrapped all those pipes with insulation? Awesome build though...something we can aspire to.
@@David-rx2to -- Actually it probably isn't loosing much heat when you consider that his wood furnace is right there and keeps that room well heated when he is heating the water. In the summer it isn't being used because most of that copper pipe was going to the radiant floor heating.
@@guisteh11 -- He doesn't need to because the heat source, the wood furnace, is in that room and likely keeps that room very hot. Doesn't matter in the summer because the flood heating that all of those pipes go to is turned off!
I love this earthship after years of looking and drawing my own this video has made me explore more the depths of how to add my uniqueness to my build.. thank you 💖
@earthly firefly5 God that is so true and so many miss this and I feel like alot of the negatives of human nature stem from this foundational miss step.
I truly believe earthships like this are important to inspiring others to build one. The typical earthship architectural style is too often a gaudy psychedelic spectacle and isn't for everyone. This is a beautiful modern home that showcases the possiblity of sustainability in developed areas. Also. Ihave no affiliation with Nord VPN but I am a customer of theirs and love it! So easy to use on all my devices and makes watching my favorite British shows possible!
You do know you can make these how ever you want right? ... while some more 'alternative' people like the sort of natural 'messy' style (as they tend to be these artsy nature types that don't have a lot with organisation and straight lines), YOU can just do w/e you like as long as you keep to the engineering principles behind how these buildings work... You don't even have to use tires, can just use a thick slab of concrete in the back (do seal it so it doesn't draw moisture in!), and back fill it after the passive air cooling has been installed... As far as walls go the same applies, there is no 'law' about using glass bottles, but thinking about natural lighting is obviously the thing to do from the engineering perspective of it, there are also these 'sun sky lights' (basically a highly reflective tube that brings sunlight down) that you can use further back in the structure to bring light in that way, instead of through the walls. And as you saw in this build, the whole front doesn't have to be this collection of odd shaped reclaimed windows, can just use regular even shaped glass panes, though here also you want to keep in mind that you will need some ventilation, so the green house doesn't over heat, and so that you can vent moisture out ... And i guess lastly, most of these earth ships have these round shaped rooms, which makes them dang awkward to arrange furniture in, again, there is no law saying rooms have to be oval shaped, it might actually be 'hip to be square' (do note that you may still want to think about what type of furniture you put where, as blocking thermal mass by furniture reduces the gain you get from the sun; but obviously you can calculate this by taking sun angles during the day and combining them with the expected strength, to make sure you get the most warmth when you want it most (aka. furniture on the western wall is less of a deal, as it's the morning lit side, curtains may still be closed and the gain in the morning isn't that high if the rest of the day the wall is mostly in the shade. the back northern wall is obviously the wall to keep free most, and the eastern wall is also nice to keep mostly free, because due to our living rhythm 'we' prefer to get some heat in the evening, so getting sun light on there from say 15:00h to 20:00 will mean it does get some warmth radiating out during the evening, so our rooms feel comfortable when we go to sleep). Anyways, the whole principle of these structures can remain the same, regardless of how you decide to shape/design them.
He does have a lot of out-buildings for his clutter to migrate into, but seeing how organized that garage was, I can't imagine there is much clutter in his life.
I love how earthships can be adapted to different tastes. Interesting that the berm at the back doesn't go up to the roof, ours goes above our roof so we're really sunk in. Would be interested to know how this affects temps especially in winter.
Man, this gave me goosebumps! This is about an hour away from where I live and I'm so excited to know it's possible to build a house like this in this climate.
I'm in Maine. My boyfriend and I Are building and earthship with earthbricks. I'm so glad too see this. Well done!! Its so efficient. And if u go smaller its actually cost efficient too. Cheap to build and beautiful to live in.
Right on! I've never heard anyone say anything but really positive things about Mike Reynolds. I would love to go apprentice with him sometime in the future.
The biggest 'problem' with these types of housing is that they take up quite a lot of space, actually more than a regular house if you want to give said earthship the volume of a regular house (and you can include the greenhouse space with that volume) ... This is because of the backfill that will also take up space ... now for a whole neighbourhood another thing starts to apply, mainly sun angles, now these buildings are not very high which is a blessing, 'but' the house behind it will have to be far enough back so that at the lowest sun angle there is still sun coming in and the greenhouse isn't shaded by what ever is in front of it (obviously this also limits the use of trees in the neighbourhood (to some extend)). This all compounds to 'perhaps' being able to put WAY LESS buildings on the patch of land, and less buildings is less sales $$ or rent $$ , and while i think humans would most certainly choose to build like this if money wasn't a thing we used, seeing as it makes so much sense environmentally. The reality is that the fake system of beads and mirrors (or paper with some numbers on it, aka $$) has us decide on less optimal alternatives. Also think of this, this developer may also want to invest his profits into something that yields good regular returns, like say 'an electricity company' (or gas/oil), well then, obviously building energy efficient housing is NOT in his interest! (except maybe for his own house). So there, screwed over twice, because we humans decide to go for profit instead of value !
You should also relisten to his comments about the actual costs. The labour is a massive part of these builds. And labour + materials is the fundamental math of a development. And the perspective that's obvious to me is that in the end the buyer pays for that. This "earthship" would cost far, far more than an equivalent self-sufficient house built with conventional and modern construction methods.
@@DiscoFang If you utilized a 3d printer for the structure, supplanting the tire walls you could probably get the base cost to 8k based on the one recently completed in Austin texas for 4k for the concrete and 6k to finish. Guess i proposed the idea with a bunch of other info in the back of my mind. If i did it myself i would utilize 3d printing with hemp, graphene and recycled tire pellets giving it more strength, flexibility and water resistance from the graphene. Carbon capture/cheap fill with the hemp and added water proofing from the recycled tire pellets. While the design is awesome it hasn't been updated like it would if a serious architect or developer got behind it. It was originally meant to be cheap affordable housing anywhere in the world and hasn't had any breakthrough developments in decades. Everything i have mentioned is within last 10 yr and hasn't been brought into mainstream simply because they can get away with building 500 sq ft garbage apartments in almost any western major city and sell for 300k+
@@dutchcourage7312 Ya not much space issues here in canada lol But ya any developer could build a cardboard box home in Vancouver and sell for 300k+ so the incentive to innovate doesn't exist in current markets.
Brad Haaf Are you referring to that small house by Icon? Very similar to the ones proposed as a housing solution for developing countries. The cost figures they gave are complete bsloney. Those tiny one bed places while a great concept, would actually cost $40-90K depending of how you assess "base" and "finished" states. I remember something about the $4000 being the raw cost of the concrete & foundation pad. And the walls lacked adequate reinforcing for average building codes.
I love the idea of alternative housing and green generation designs and feel the founder of Earthships and those working with it should receive a Nobel. The problem I have is that tires are a petroleum product and they deteriorate and off-gassing results. It's like burying pollution that eventually leaches into the soils. Tires to me are hazardous waste and should have a way of ecologically disposing of them. I just wish they would come up with a different material and design the homes from like aircrete that's made from natural materials and it insulates. I don't mean to sound negative as really these are ideas in the right direction, toward a green generation. Thanks for posting this great video!
Recent research indicated that shredded tires do not show any likelihood of being a hazardous waste material or of having adverse effects on groundwater quality ...
I know your comment was years ago but I agree, we are building an earthship on our property but instead of tires we are doing walls with earth bags. Better solution.
I've always been interested in the earthship design. I love the idea of sustainable living. To me it just makes sense. The issue I have is I live in southern Alabama. Our water table is extremely high here. Like ground water 2 foot down. The heating is easy here but our summers are hot and humid. I wish I was younger. I would so like to get into this. I really like the idea of a garden inside my house.
Based on your photo I'm gonna guess you have no business moving to a permaculture farm in Costa Rica or Micronesia. You can say I'm being mean, just as long as you take a minute and check your environmental racism and colonialism and make sure there isn't a grain of truth in what I'm saying.
@@loyalroyal1015 UA-cam put your response under the wrong comment. 🤔 I agree with you. It's about personal tastes. To me it actually does look warm and inviting. I love cement as an interior feature.
Erm... This is magnificent! I'm impressed by the use of cement and sun exposure to regulate the temperature inside the house. Furthermore, the inside looks like a regular, modern house. I can see this type of dwelling winning over the people who are still on the fence about sustainable housing. Had a chuckle at the term 'truth window', reminded me of some hippie workshop I used to attend. I like the concept, though. This beautiful house is made out of waste and that's the truth! 😄
Inez De Klein It's so much better to use tires and clay soil rather than cement, in order to recycle the tires. It saves you money from buying cement. Cement is not eco friendly. Cement hardly warms with heat. Place a small chunk of concrete in an oven next time you have your oven on and test it for yourself. In Canada, it gets 30 degrees below zero. You really want to use materials that will help warm the home.
@@goodliving2171 Cement is a binding agent. Inert rocks of specified size is added to make it cheaper - concrete. Clay is more eco friendly, the heat capacity does however change with moisture. Concrete is more stable in that respect. Using tires just as a formwork for concrete is wasteful. Might as well build an ordinary reinforced conrete wall. Specific heat of clay and concrete can be about the same, water plays an effect in clay. There is a concept called an active house. It utilizes the architecture, positioning of the structure, blindes/shades and also thermal properties of walls (load baring part + thermal insulation part) to most effectively utilize the incoming sun irradiance. The house can from an architectural stand point look completely normal and still utilize the advantages.
There is a vid here someplace of an older guy that could not pound sand due to a heart condition so his process was place several rows of tires and have it framed and filled the tires with concrete every several feet. Sure it’s different batches of concrete but when there is a will there is a way. Love the idea of using lumber mill off cuts for a wood paneling/ log cabin vibe.
Ontario Canada! brrrrr, I am AMAZED at this beautiful home. I lived in Taos NM decades ago (1996-98) and very familiar with the earthship 'movement'---this home has clean lines and a refreshing clean look~!
This is one of the most beautiful earthship homes that my husband and I have ever seen. My husband would never even consider looking into an earthship build because he didn't like look of the facade of most of them. But after seeing this one, he's considering it strongly!! How can we contact Matt or get his website or email!?? This home is Beautiful! ☺
Love all the interior decisions. Concrete buttresses, the log walls, and even the window walls for the growing area. The modern look is more to my sensibilities and really shows the range and variety an earthship can take. This would be the example id show to people who aren't sold on the more traditional earthship look
From a modern design perspective, this is a great adaption, from a efficiency and sustainability perspective, there are some odd things though, but seems like quite a few of them were caused by close minded local laws, for example the heating systems, high use of concrete, not angled outside window, side windows, not fully closed inside windows, lack of maximizing winter sun usage, deep planter, thin roof, short earth tubes, no photothermal panels and a few more small things. However its obviously much better, to make a crossover between a "normal" house and an earthship, than just building a "normal" house.
Solar panels are so expensive in Canada/USA. We paid 25.000 usd for a 18,4 kwh solar set up including the installation with a crane and a comparable rack to hold the panels.
Curious. What do you heat your home with? Firewood? Propane? Both of these have environmental impact. Electrical is also not that great when you think of copper that has to be utilized and how wasteful electrical heat is compared to something like solar hot water or geothermal.
I so wish I had met with like-minded people before attempting my build. I'm still at it and have the time and the materials but am maybe 65% done. Not sure it will come to be completed anymore. Just very overwhelming. The idea is fantastic and with a good group I'm sure well worth it. Very nice work ! Congrats ! Wulfy
This is great. Wood and propane though create CO2. Ideally, it would be all electric with windmill(s) and/or more solar PV with batteries for heating and hot water. Below ground geothermal pipes can help with heating/cooling. Water can also be heated in tubes on the roof. It's great to grow one's own plant-based foods. Very cool place. Thanks for doing the vid.
I always wanted two storey earthship. It seems it can be done, you dont even need to burry this one and it will work as well. I would use north side for plants that dont need direct sun whole day. So north side, east and west, would be use as outside food gardens as well, which is something you dont usually see on earthships. They have gardens inside and in front, but that is not enough for me. I want garden everywhere around it.
Absolutely lovely building. That said, I can't help worrying that all those exposed tyres in the furnace room, combined with tinder dry wood throughout the building makes for a gigantic fire hazard. Once tyres catch fire they pretty much carry on burning, no matter what.
Fire is actually the main issue with custom builds. A lot of great expensive projects one spark away from ash. You should start building with the notion that nothing can be easily flammable in your house, because one flammable item can be a lot of poorly flammable ones still going to ash anyway. It really explains why fire codes are as stringent as they are.
It's so well thought out. It obviously built by a genius with hr at interior design sense. Someone put in lot of efforts and thought processes to make sure it is livable.
This is a fascinating video. However, it would be really helpful to know precisely how much it cost to build. Collingwood has undergone gentrification in the last ten years so I assume the land itself was not cheap. Please include details regarding the budget and a breakdown of expenses if possible. Thanks!
From Google: It costs $225 per square foot to have Earthship Biotecture build your earthship. It also may take you up to 2 years to build your own earthship. In comparison, you can design and have built a home of "sustainable" construction in a few months, with NO effort, for the same amount of money.
I just love this gentleman's idea. I would love to learn more about this awesome opportunity. Great stuff! And thank you, your podcast is awesome, as well..
Question: Isn't the excessive use of cement really bad for the environment? Aren't there any more environmentally friendly alternatives for the thermal mass?
Spot on. The Upfront Carbon in this build is quite high for a 3 bedroom housing 2-4 people. The thermal massing would be much more effective in a smaller building with less exposed roof/windows. The green house area seems to not be producing much more than microgreens at best. The boiler room copper piping is just as bad as most "eco" mansions you see online, Copper is a limited resource people! I see three cars in one shot, one of them is probably the film makers, but those two ford trucks seem a bit excessive. The gravel and lawn areas could be encouraged to go wild to sink more carbon into the soil. I don't see any signs that they are farming outside or doing any forest management, so why are they out in the countryside? It's a very pleasant looking space, but it is definitely a luxury/convenience machine, not trying to minimize actual impact based on hard numbers.
There are but they can get costly at that scale. Example. You can reclaim large stones. You can make Earth bricks. but all that takes MUCH more time and labour. In order to save and store energy, you need some form or stone that can hold it. The is very critical to any build like this. I built a project house with Earth Stones and they work great to store energy, but to build at the size this man has, It would take me years to make the stones myself. I could buy bricks from the store, but carbon footprint of shipping and manufacturing doesn't makes since environmentally. I found a combination works well. Create an outline with the Earth Bricks (like a form). Fill the space with large stones. Then fill the gaps with concrete. Then slowly build upwards. Great performance and no tires.
This is BY FAR the nicest, cleanest, and most luxurious looking earthship I have ever seen. It's functional and beautiful. They often look makeshift, somewhat dirty and thrown together, but this guy did an excellent job with the design!
I concur I live in Taos
Just want to say, man, that plumbing wall is a work of art in itself. Fantastic work.
What Tim Dolan said
Like a gallery. Not my cup of tea this project - too much cost.
Yep.. well said Tim! Lol
Same!
@@mondavou9408yep.
This is hands down the best looking earthship I've ever seen.
Agree
There is one I've seen that is an almost identical floor plan but in a more desert climate like Arizona. I think it's a bit better. The garden area is way more robust and full. This dude has tons of backup options though.
But it's not one of the earthshipiest ones
Well built. Its quite boring though...guy has no artistic flair. The best earthships I've seen have elaborate and beautiful windows in the front.
@Pa Tero Not at all. It's just the one you saw on youtube with the most hits.
This is the nicest earthship adaptation I have EVER seen. It took the best of the earthship functionality model and added much upgraded design and clean lines. Excellent!
I wonder what's the cost !!!!
Agreed.
Everyone should live in something like this. The grid is so yesterday.
Clean lines = boring. Making our world sterile... ;oD I prefer some artistic styles in any house.
You all really haven't seen a great earthship then..
Finally, an earthship home where I can see myself living. At last everything has been well thought out and professionally built.
Gold grinder Exactly. It’s also nicely decorated too.
Exactly! Most of the time they look dirty and thrown together.
Professional: One who does something as a profession.
Nice to see Earthships in Canada now! It' s a good way to live gentle on the Earth.
Absolutely beautiful! The craftsmanship that went into this earthship is truly breathtaking. Thank you Exploring Alternatives for this very well done video.
I love your UA-cam channel and just randomly saw this on my recommended. Looking in the comments and saw yours!
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. This is like my dream home. One day, I'd like to build one similar to this. The indoor garden, recycled materials, solar panels.. Oh man. Beautiful
I could listen to Matt talk about his homes for ages. It's so fascinating to hear about such a thought out process. Earthships were my first love in alternative housing ideas. All the best everyone!
This is so awesome! All of my ideas I’ve had for an earthship is in this guys design. A wood stove to get heated water. Having the heated water run through the floors for heated floor. It’s amazing to see my ideas already in play in someone else’s house.
Love watching people innovate and learn from each other!
One of best earthship houses I have come across on UA-cam! Beautifully done
I like that he subtly lets us know that the solar panels weren't inexpensive, you know that the windowed front had to cost many thousands, plus having labor costs from people that do specific installations... This is an "alternative" structure not an inexpensive way to build. It is wise and you make the most of what you have with some return on investment but not a low budget build.
... well. Uh.
Duh. If you want low budget you wouldn't use any glass that isn't recycled bottles at all.
@@unintentionallydramatic people remodel their homes and throw away whole houses worth of good windows. Windows are free in USA check craigslist. Call a window contractor and take their trash. His solar system could be done for 10k if diy, tracking +relectors makes more sense.
Technically he never broke down and estimated cost per square foot. You're projecting that you think it's expensive because it seems daunting. If you have land for a ship you have land to work trade camping space for labor, anybody can do all this work. The real problem is government making stuff expensive w permits and imposing limits.
@@Sam-gy1rk He also didn't spend too much time explaining how except for some additional drinking water, Earthships in arid New Mexico provide enough water to wash, greywater the greenhouse and filtered greywater to flush the toilet out to a septic tank feeding another garden. Yet in verdant green Ontario, the city is worried whether there's enough rain just to flush the toilets.
@@ewellford the government is concerned they won't get money for permits to install well or tap water. Concerned a local plumber won't be payed $50+ an hour, while they also tax and permit him. It's all a mafia scheme. This is why people are homeless. The general population are ignorant sheep. Is illegal to be free.
I love the truth window! I'd never heard of that. And I love that all the pipes and wires are exposed in the mechanical room so you can see how everything works.
And you can easily repair any malfunctions! I had a copper pipe to my underfloor system spring a leak or two after 25 years, and was happy that all was easily accessible in the utility room, even though it's less attractive and harder to clean.
@Ruth...my first reaction to all that exposed copper pipe...I was wondering how much efficiency he is losing to heat radiation from the pipes. How much more efficient would his system be if he wrapped all those pipes with insulation? Awesome build though...something we can aspire to.
@@David-rx2to exactly. In Germany we have to wrap tap water lines in insulation. Only makes sense to insulate heatinh pipes aswell.
@@David-rx2to -- Actually it probably isn't loosing much heat when you consider that his wood furnace is right there and keeps that room well heated when he is heating the water. In the summer it isn't being used because most of that copper pipe was going to the radiant floor heating.
@@guisteh11 -- He doesn't need to because the heat source, the wood furnace, is in that room and likely keeps that room very hot. Doesn't matter in the summer because the flood heating that all of those pipes go to is turned off!
I love this earthship after years of looking and drawing my own this video has made me explore more the depths of how to add my uniqueness to my build.. thank you 💖
I live a few blocks away from that home and always wondered what it was. Thanks!
🙂👍
@earthly firefly5 God that is so true and so many miss this and I feel like alot of the negatives of human nature stem from this foundational miss step.
@earthly firefly5 У тебя канал на русском языке они же не поймут. Спасибо очень интересные темы.
@earthly firefly5 да конечно ☺
@earthly firefly5 can you share the blog?
Where in Ontario?
I truly believe earthships like this are important to inspiring others to build one. The typical earthship architectural style is too often a gaudy psychedelic spectacle and isn't for everyone. This is a beautiful modern home that showcases the possiblity of sustainability in developed areas.
Also. Ihave no affiliation with Nord VPN but I am a customer of theirs and love it! So easy to use on all my devices and makes watching my favorite British shows possible!
11:43 weird driving laws in this area...
Hermione was turning back her Time-Turner. You caught her!
Wacky Wednesday? Dr. Seuss lives again....
Good eye!
lol
well is this Australia? everything moves there in reverse
I seriously want an Earthship, AirCrete, Schoolie or Tiny House home. I genuinely love, love, love, love them all!
Me too. :-)
First uncluttered earthship, very nice.
You can say that again John. Clutter in any form is ghastly.
Even in ones mind. Have a good
week.
You do know you can make these how ever you want right? ... while some more 'alternative' people like the sort of natural 'messy' style (as they tend to be these artsy nature types that don't have a lot with organisation and straight lines), YOU can just do w/e you like as long as you keep to the engineering principles behind how these buildings work... You don't even have to use tires, can just use a thick slab of concrete in the back (do seal it so it doesn't draw moisture in!), and back fill it after the passive air cooling has been installed... As far as walls go the same applies, there is no 'law' about using glass bottles, but thinking about natural lighting is obviously the thing to do from the engineering perspective of it, there are also these 'sun sky lights' (basically a highly reflective tube that brings sunlight down) that you can use further back in the structure to bring light in that way, instead of through the walls. And as you saw in this build, the whole front doesn't have to be this collection of odd shaped reclaimed windows, can just use regular even shaped glass panes, though here also you want to keep in mind that you will need some ventilation, so the green house doesn't over heat, and so that you can vent moisture out ...
And i guess lastly, most of these earth ships have these round shaped rooms, which makes them dang awkward to arrange furniture in, again, there is no law saying rooms have to be oval shaped, it might actually be 'hip to be square' (do note that you may still want to think about what type of furniture you put where, as blocking thermal mass by furniture reduces the gain you get from the sun; but obviously you can calculate this by taking sun angles during the day and combining them with the expected strength, to make sure you get the most warmth when you want it most (aka. furniture on the western wall is less of a deal, as it's the morning lit side, curtains may still be closed and the gain in the morning isn't that high if the rest of the day the wall is mostly in the shade. the back northern wall is obviously the wall to keep free most, and the eastern wall is also nice to keep mostly free, because due to our living rhythm 'we' prefer to get some heat in the evening, so getting sun light on there from say 15:00h to 20:00 will mean it does get some warmth radiating out during the evening, so our rooms feel comfortable when we go to sleep).
Anyways, the whole principle of these structures can remain the same, regardless of how you decide to shape/design them.
He does have a lot of out-buildings for his clutter to migrate into, but seeing how organized that garage was, I can't imagine there is much clutter in his life.
@@bryana892 -- Really? Your whole concern is about whether someone else has clutter? You really need a life!
@@Rattlerjake1 The fact that I am commenting on UA-cam comments has already established that I have no life.
I love Earthships! The concept that a house can be self powered is so awesome. This IS the future!
I love how earthships can be adapted to different tastes. Interesting that the berm at the back doesn't go up to the roof, ours goes above our roof so we're really sunk in. Would be interested to know how this affects temps especially in winter.
Dbsb3272
I love this home so innovative and stylish, something I wouldn't mind seeing myself in.
@joelabo 😑
@joelabo Well, that's creepy.
It's N O T I N N O V A T I V E. It just looks innovative. That's all.
@@sharonmariejohnson2578 🤣
earthship, aka house
Man, this gave me goosebumps! This is about an hour away from where I live and I'm so excited to know it's possible to build a house like this in this climate.
The most beautiful Earthship I’ve seen to date.
Thanks for the video👍🏻
I'm in Maine. My boyfriend and I
Are building and earthship with earthbricks. I'm so glad too see this. Well done!! Its so efficient. And if u go smaller its actually cost efficient too. Cheap to build and beautiful to live in.
I love earthships and this one is cool with the modern/cabin feel.
Le pp
This has got to be the most beautiful Earthship I’ve ever seen. I love the design. Thanks for sharing
I love earth ships. If we ever stop traveling, I would seriously consider having one built for us to live in.
Wow!!! I've loved Earthships for 20 years. Your's is answers soooooo many of my questions!!
You know it’s legit when the guy keeps attributing to his mentor.
Right on! I've never heard anyone say anything but really positive things about Mike Reynolds. I would love to go apprentice with him sometime in the future.
Got to be my most favorite earthship that I have seen.
11:06 Ontario?? wow. I live in Ontario. Wish I could just see the house. The indoor garden is just exactly what I would dream.
This is one of the best looking earth ships I have seen! Beautifully designed and decorated!
Love to see a developer step up and build out a whole neighbourhood... just seems so obvious from every perspective.
The biggest 'problem' with these types of housing is that they take up quite a lot of space, actually more than a regular house if you want to give said earthship the volume of a regular house (and you can include the greenhouse space with that volume) ... This is because of the backfill that will also take up space ... now for a whole neighbourhood another thing starts to apply, mainly sun angles, now these buildings are not very high which is a blessing, 'but' the house behind it will have to be far enough back so that at the lowest sun angle there is still sun coming in and the greenhouse isn't shaded by what ever is in front of it (obviously this also limits the use of trees in the neighbourhood (to some extend)).
This all compounds to 'perhaps' being able to put WAY LESS buildings on the patch of land, and less buildings is less sales $$ or rent $$ , and while i think humans would most certainly choose to build like this if money wasn't a thing we used, seeing as it makes so much sense environmentally. The reality is that the fake system of beads and mirrors (or paper with some numbers on it, aka $$) has us decide on less optimal alternatives. Also think of this, this developer may also want to invest his profits into something that yields good regular returns, like say 'an electricity company' (or gas/oil), well then, obviously building energy efficient housing is NOT in his interest! (except maybe for his own house). So there, screwed over twice, because we humans decide to go for profit instead of value !
You should also relisten to his comments about the actual costs. The labour is a massive part of these builds. And labour + materials is the fundamental math of a development. And the perspective that's obvious to me is that in the end the buyer pays for that. This "earthship" would cost far, far more than an equivalent self-sufficient house built with conventional and modern construction methods.
@@DiscoFang If you utilized a 3d printer for the structure, supplanting the tire walls you could probably get the base cost to 8k based on the one recently completed in Austin texas for 4k for the concrete and 6k to finish. Guess i proposed the idea with a bunch of other info in the back of my mind. If i did it myself i would utilize 3d printing with hemp, graphene and recycled tire pellets giving it more strength, flexibility and water resistance from the graphene. Carbon capture/cheap fill with the hemp and added water proofing from the recycled tire pellets. While the design is awesome it hasn't been updated like it would if a serious architect or developer got behind it. It was originally meant to be cheap affordable housing anywhere in the world and hasn't had any breakthrough developments in decades. Everything i have mentioned is within last 10 yr and hasn't been brought into mainstream simply because they can get away with building 500 sq ft garbage apartments in almost any western major city and sell for 300k+
@@dutchcourage7312 Ya not much space issues here in canada lol But ya any developer could build a cardboard box home in Vancouver and sell for 300k+ so the incentive to innovate doesn't exist in current markets.
Brad Haaf Are you referring to that small house by Icon? Very similar to the ones proposed as a housing solution for developing countries. The cost figures they gave are complete bsloney. Those tiny one bed places while a great concept, would actually cost $40-90K depending of how you assess "base" and "finished" states. I remember something about the $4000 being the raw cost of the concrete & foundation pad. And the walls lacked adequate reinforcing for average building codes.
Absolutely blown away- This is BRILLIANT, I love it!
Wow. The most modern looking earthship I have seen. When I think of earthships, I normaly think of dirt-cave.
But this is beautiful!
Love this Earthship it's gorgeous and all the knowledge he had and explained everything so well. The plumbing wall was picturesque too.
I love the idea of alternative housing and green generation designs and feel the founder of Earthships and those working with it should receive a Nobel. The problem I have is that tires are a petroleum product and they deteriorate and off-gassing results. It's like burying pollution that eventually leaches into the soils. Tires to me are hazardous waste and should have a way of ecologically disposing of them. I just wish they would come up with a different material and design the homes from like aircrete that's made from natural materials and it insulates. I don't mean to sound negative as really these are ideas in the right direction, toward a green generation. Thanks for posting this great video!
Recent research indicated that shredded tires do not show any likelihood of being a hazardous waste material or of having adverse effects on groundwater quality ...
I know your comment was years ago but I agree, we are building an earthship on our property but instead of tires we are doing walls with earth bags. Better solution.
@@EdynBlair I’d love to see when completed 😊🙏🏻
@@yourconscience650 any links to the research??
@@seanbrown2878 google 👀
The best looking EARTHSHIP I've seen. My absolute favourite. 👏👏👏
I've always been interested in the earthship design. I love the idea of sustainable living. To me it just makes sense. The issue I have is I live in southern Alabama. Our water table is extremely high here. Like ground water 2 foot down. The heating is easy here but our summers are hot and humid. I wish I was younger. I would so like to get into this. I really like the idea of a garden inside my house.
if you dont have 500K for a house like this dont even think about it lol
This is one of my favourite Earthship's. The design is beautiful. Very luxurious still has modern features.
This is a fabulous earthship :) As an extra bonus, there are 2 tiny houses in the back yard!!
This is the best earthship style I've watch so far. Good job!
You built my dream house! Wow. This earthship is so magnificent.
i think i remember a few years ago i watched you guys building this house from scratch. love how much improvements it has been now.
Excellent in concept and execution. Well done. You mentor should be proud...you too...lots of work, great accomplishment. Thanks for sharing.
This is my favourite earthship by far! Really well designed❤
Some interesting improvments on the Earthship concept, and feels more modern which I think would be attractive to a larger audience
Beautiful modern living space with all the amenities, but still efficient and elegant.
Im in love. This is everything you could want. I just need it on a permaculture farm in Costa Rica or Micronesia
Based on your photo I'm gonna guess you have no business moving to a permaculture farm in Costa Rica or Micronesia. You can say I'm being mean, just as long as you take a minute and check your environmental racism and colonialism and make sure there isn't a grain of truth in what I'm saying.
@@Theballonist Everytime you point a finger several more are pointed back at you.
That is the most glamorous earthship I’ve seen!
I would love to have a home like this. The best design I’ve seen yet.
This is the best earthship I have viewed. Well done Thank you for sharing.
Wow
Its self sustaining in every way i mean he has rented a room also.
That's just a reflection of the owners design style ...You would probably make this space warm and inviting we're it yours 😁👍
@@loyalroyal1015 UA-cam put your response under the wrong comment. 🤔 I agree with you. It's about personal tastes. To me it actually does look warm and inviting. I love cement as an interior feature.
@@Mrwaffleandmilk How do you figure?
This is truly Awesome. This is one of the Best Earth Ships I have ever seen.
The nicest earth hip we have seen. Wish we can get one. Amazing energy savings. Thanks so much for this very neat video,
Thanks Jocelyne, really happy you enjoyed this Earthship :)
@@ExploringAlternatives how can we contact him to get one built
That copper setup in the garage is a work of art
Smart guy....I like listening to people that have something to say.....
Such a humble guy, with a passion for such an amazing way of living. Very inspiring! ❤️
I've been wanting to head out to New Mexico to that the building course. It's been my dream for a while now.
my buddy did an internship down there in Taos and he learned a lot of things. he helped me design my outdoor shower and rain garden.
This is absolutely fabulous and open.
Erm... This is magnificent! I'm impressed by the use of cement and sun exposure to regulate the temperature inside the house. Furthermore, the inside looks like a regular, modern house. I can see this type of dwelling winning over the people who are still on the fence about sustainable housing. Had a chuckle at the term 'truth window', reminded me of some hippie workshop I used to attend. I like the concept, though. This beautiful house is made out of waste and that's the truth! 😄
Inez De Klein
It's so much better to use tires and clay soil rather than cement, in order to recycle the tires. It saves you money from buying cement. Cement is not eco friendly. Cement hardly warms with heat. Place a small chunk of concrete in an oven next time you have your oven on and test it for yourself. In Canada, it gets 30 degrees below zero. You really want to use materials that will help warm the home.
@@goodliving2171 Cement is a binding agent. Inert rocks of specified size is added to make it cheaper - concrete.
Clay is more eco friendly, the heat capacity does however change with moisture. Concrete is more stable in that respect.
Using tires just as a formwork for concrete is wasteful. Might as well build an ordinary reinforced conrete wall.
Specific heat of clay and concrete can be about the same, water plays an effect in clay.
There is a concept called an active house. It utilizes the architecture, positioning of the structure, blindes/shades and also thermal properties of walls (load baring part + thermal insulation part) to most effectively utilize the incoming sun irradiance. The house can from an architectural stand point look completely normal and still utilize the advantages.
@@goodliving2171; aham... And tires are super eco friendly, no???
Shut up.
This is the most beautiful and the well designed flow of it, I have ever seen.
Very inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thank you.
There is a vid here someplace of an older guy that could not pound sand due to a heart condition so his process was place several rows of tires and have it framed and filled the tires with concrete every several feet. Sure it’s different batches of concrete but when there is a will there is a way. Love the idea of using lumber mill off cuts for a wood paneling/ log cabin vibe.
I'm curious what the overall cost of this build was, I didn't hear it mentioned in the video anywhere.
🤑💰Too much for me that’s for sure!
Ontario Canada! brrrrr, I am AMAZED at this beautiful home. I lived in Taos NM decades ago (1996-98) and very familiar with the earthship 'movement'---this home has clean lines and a refreshing clean look~!
There was Colorado builder named Michael Shealy who built his Earthship using tire bales... huge labor savings..
Beautiful. This is the first earthship I've seen. I have not heard of an earthship either. I want one and I live in NM. Very cool. Thank you so much
This is one of the most beautiful earthship homes that my husband and I have ever seen. My husband would never even consider looking into an earthship build because he didn't like look of the facade of most of them. But after seeing this one, he's considering it strongly!! How can we contact Matt or get his website or email!?? This home is Beautiful! ☺
Love all the interior decisions. Concrete buttresses, the log walls, and even the window walls for the growing area. The modern look is more to my sensibilities and really shows the range and variety an earthship can take. This would be the example id show to people who aren't sold on the more traditional earthship look
From a modern design perspective, this is a great adaption, from a efficiency and sustainability perspective, there are some odd things though, but seems like quite a few of them were caused by close minded local laws, for example the heating systems, high use of concrete, not angled outside window, side windows, not fully closed inside windows, lack of maximizing winter sun usage, deep planter, thin roof, short earth tubes, no photothermal panels and a few more small things.
However its obviously much better, to make a crossover between a "normal" house and an earthship, than just building a "normal" house.
His house is spectacular with simple and sustainable build
Solar panels are so expensive in Canada/USA. We paid 25.000 usd for a 18,4 kwh solar set up including the installation with a crane and a comparable rack to hold the panels.
That why nuclear is the better choice.
This is the best looking earthship I've ever seen. It doesn't look like the typical, dark, hippy looking structure
Just awesome... I would totally live in something like that!
Incredibly beautiful and love that u have dual water and power connection
It would be great if you always ask what each build cost. I'm hoping the information for this one will be in Matt's blog.
Fascinating how they understand the earth and are working w the earth and not against it
Tell me how many years ago you started planting trees for your wood fired boiler /fireplace?
Oh snap. Those two trucks on the massive gravel driveway too.
Curious. What do you heat your home with? Firewood? Propane? Both of these have environmental impact. Electrical is also not that great when you think of copper that has to be utilized and how wasteful electrical heat is compared to something like solar hot water or geothermal.
S Singh How about a heat pump?
TheExcelciorBeta Unless you have hot geothermal, you’d still have to increase the temp from 55F to the temp you need.
I so wish I had met with like-minded people before attempting my build. I'm still at it and have the time and the materials but am maybe 65% done. Not sure it will come to be completed anymore. Just very overwhelming.
The idea is fantastic and with a good group I'm sure well worth it.
Very nice work !
Congrats !
Wulfy
Man. Good luck.
Well that was a perfect solar power home.
Great video👍
No such thing.
My main concern with a house like this would be termites. Apart from that, what an incredible place.
Oh wow, how fabulous! Style and taste go a long way when building, that is for sure 👍🏻
This is great. Wood and propane though create CO2. Ideally, it would be all electric with windmill(s) and/or more solar PV with batteries for heating and hot water. Below ground geothermal pipes can help with heating/cooling. Water can also be heated in tubes on the roof. It's great to grow one's own plant-based foods. Very cool place. Thanks for doing the vid.
Very well thought out
I always wanted two storey earthship. It seems it can be done, you dont even need to burry this one and it will work as well. I would use north side for plants that dont need direct sun whole day. So north side, east and west, would be use as outside food gardens as well, which is something you dont usually see on earthships. They have gardens inside and in front, but that is not enough for me. I want garden everywhere around it.
Absolutely lovely building.
That said, I can't help worrying that all those exposed tyres in the furnace room, combined with tinder dry wood throughout the building makes for a gigantic fire hazard.
Once tyres catch fire they pretty much carry on burning, no matter what.
Fire is actually the main issue with custom builds. A lot of great expensive projects one spark away from ash. You should start building with the notion that nothing can be easily flammable in your house, because one flammable item can be a lot of poorly flammable ones still going to ash anyway. It really explains why fire codes are as stringent as they are.
Super clean implementation. Very uncluttered, very well-thought of. Great and creative!
I'll take the vintage camper shown out back. Being mobile is key for me.
Is that what that is? I thought it was a tiny home lol
It's so well thought out. It obviously built by a genius with hr at interior design sense. Someone put in lot of efforts and thought processes to make sure it is livable.
This is a fascinating video. However, it would be really helpful to know precisely how much it cost to build. Collingwood has undergone gentrification in the last ten years so I assume the land itself was not cheap. Please include details regarding the budget and a breakdown of expenses if possible. Thanks!
From Google:
It costs $225 per square foot to have Earthship Biotecture build your earthship. It also may take you up to 2 years to build your own earthship. In comparison, you can design and have built a home of "sustainable" construction in a few months, with NO effort, for the same amount of money.
I just love this gentleman's idea. I would love to learn more about this awesome opportunity. Great stuff! And thank you, your podcast is awesome, as well..
Y'all do the most interesting content. ☺
Thanks so much Alice🙂
Just beautiful I hope to have one myself one day :)
Truly amazing build, labor of love.
Great job on the video Danielle and Mat!
Amazing dwelling, totally my dream home.
Clever man 👌
Very descriptive on the functions of the property and building materials etc. Really inspiring
Question: Isn't the excessive use of cement really bad for the environment? Aren't there any more environmentally friendly alternatives for the thermal mass?
Spot on. The Upfront Carbon in this build is quite high for a 3 bedroom housing 2-4 people. The thermal massing would be much more effective in a smaller building with less exposed roof/windows. The green house area seems to not be producing much more than microgreens at best. The boiler room copper piping is just as bad as most "eco" mansions you see online, Copper is a limited resource people!
I see three cars in one shot, one of them is probably the film makers, but those two ford trucks seem a bit excessive. The gravel and lawn areas could be encouraged to go wild to sink more carbon into the soil.
I don't see any signs that they are farming outside or doing any forest management, so why are they out in the countryside? It's a very pleasant looking space, but it is definitely a luxury/convenience machine, not trying to minimize actual impact based on hard numbers.
There are but they can get costly at that scale. Example. You can reclaim large stones. You can make Earth bricks. but all that takes MUCH more time and labour. In order to save and store energy, you need some form or stone that can hold it. The is very critical to any build like this. I built a project house with Earth Stones and they work great to store energy, but to build at the size this man has, It would take me years to make the stones myself. I could buy bricks from the store, but carbon footprint of shipping and manufacturing doesn't makes since environmentally. I found a combination works well. Create an outline with the Earth Bricks (like a form). Fill the space with large stones. Then fill the gaps with concrete. Then slowly build upwards. Great performance and no tires.
Using tires like this is at least definitely contaminating the soil.