The first Dutch Earthship is nearing completion. As of next spring, the super-ecological building in the city of Zwolle will be brought into use as a tearoom. Is the Earthship model a realistic option for sustainable housing construction or just an old hippie dream?
The concept of the Earthship - an invention of US architect Michael Reynolds - has been around for decades. The guiding principle is that such a home should consist mostly of waste or recycled materials, and not need any utility whatsoever.
 Four views of the earthship |
The Earthship in Zwolle will be the first in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), and something of a showcase. However, on the route to the construction site, all you can see is a huge lump of earth in the distance. Project manager and host Hans Bijkerk of housing corporation SWZ explains what it's all about. "We are going to take a look at the 'Earthship', a building we will present to the people of Zwolle on the occasion of our centennial, and it is really a building that is fully self-sufficient. It is more than just a lump of earth, it is technically so advanced that it can generate its own heat, capture and filter its own water, and generate its own electricity via solar panels."Car tyres
The construction of an Earthship is simple. The northern wall consists of old car tyres stacked in a stretcher bond. During construction, the tyres are filled with sand, which is packed down as hard as possible with sledgehammers. This results in an indestructible and extremely heavy ‘tyre wall' (photo below: laying the tyre wall).
A thick layer of plaster provides a clean and smooth interior wall. A huge bank of earth is placed against the outside of the tyre wall which makes the whole northern side of the house look like some sort of hill. The roof, which rests on the tyre wall, has a thick layer of insulation material.
The southern facade of an Earthship is all glass, which changes it into what is known in the construction business as a ‘passive house', a house that needs no heating because that's provided by the sun. Solar heat enters the house via the glass southern facade, all summer long heating the earthen bank which forms the backside of the house.
 The rather unprepossessing back of the Earthship, with embedded tyres |
Water and power?
Power is generated by solar panels. A number of large batteries store the generated electricity until it is needed. Water in the Earthship is simply rainwater flowing from the roof into large storage tanks dug into the earthen bank on the north side. A smart filter system changes it into ‘grey water' for housekeeping purposes and flushing the toilet, and even ‘white water' for drinking.
Hippie dream
From all sides, the building's shape exudes eco-awareness and DIY. In that sense it is indeed a kind of hippie dream. However, the current state of technology makes it possible to build energy-efficient homes that do not look like a small hill. A run-of-the-mill terraced house can also be turned into a ‘zero-emissions' home.
Not viable
The concept of the Earthship is not viable in the Netherlands when it comes to large-scale housing construction. An Earthship simply takes up too much room, and its construction is extremely labour intensive as nearly all work is done by hand, and therefore expensive. The SWZ housing corporation could only afford the Zwolle Earthship because dedicated volunteers spend months of their time on the project. Hans Bijkerk says that traditional construction companies are nevertheless taking a strong interest in the Earthship. "We are going to measure and monitor the technology, the water and power production but also consumption patterns. When you first lay eyes on it, it strikes you as a Hobbit cave, but it is intended to test technologies that we are now familiar with so we can decide what can be used in regular housing construction."
There may be better opportunities for Earthships elsewhere in the world. In remote areas without power, water or natural gas, they can certainly meet a demand, especially in regions where labour is cheap. For the time being, the first Earthship in the Benelux may be inspiring, but primarily serves as a laboratory for practical research.
* RNW translation (gsh)
Tags: Earthship, ecological housing, solar energy, Sustainable building, Zwolle