Earthship Biotecture: Reuse taken to the next level
When architect Michael Reynolds realised 45 years ago that humans where transforming the earth into landfill, he pioneered the radical sustainable concept of building with waste, calling it Earthship Biotecture. He then spread the knowledge about constructing self-sustainable, passive solar houses made of both natural and recycled materials, and today there are several Earthships and Earthiship-inspired buildings all over the world. One of these is soon to be completed in Malaysia.
“As a young architect, I was looking at the world around me and I noticed issues with natural resources, pollution, and garbage. So I started to address those issues in my own buildings, thinking that architecture in general ought to address them, too. Let’s not use trees, let’s use waste material to build, along with wind and solar power”, declares Michael Reynolds, adding, “Us humans should take trees as an example: they take-in carbon dioxide and give back oxygen; they don’t destroy the planet, they enhance it!” Reynolds and his crew and followers use rubbish instead of trees as building material: tins, PET containers, glass bottles, and earth-packed tyres –“things that now are indigenous all over the planet”. This results in the self-sustainable housing that Reynolds terms Earthship Biotecture, “since we’re building something that is beyond a house and beyond architecture.” The architect, who is based in Taos, New Mexico, was also the subject of a documentary called Garbage Warrior.
And a warrior he certainly is (he looks the part, too, with his wavy grey hair and fiery eyes), as besides lots of recognition and goodwill, he has also had to deal with criticism and obstruction. “We certainly pissed-off some government people because we went to the point of breaking rules and regulations.” The Garbage Warrior documentary deals with Reynolds’ successful struggle with the law. “Many people can’t see further than the rulebook, but beyond the rulebook is global warming …” There were also complaints from a couple of disappointed clients. “The unusualness of an Earthship means that it can disappoint people who are expecting something more conventional. But let it be clear: this is not conventional housing. Clients must realise that what we’re doing is experimental and some things could be better. You know, even Frank Lloyd Wright had to deal with leaking roofs; and in Colorado recently, an entire building caved in because of the snow. And those are buildings by conventional architects. These kinds of problems are inherent to architecture. And if problems occur, we are there to solve them, like any other architect would do.”
Reynolds also established the Earthship Academy in New Mexico and is currently preparing to construct a second school in Indonesia. At the Academy, people are trained to build an Earthship, addressing six key issues of a good shelter in a biotecture way: provision of water to drink, to flush the toilet, to water the plants, to wash, etc.; a comfortable air temperature in all weather conditions; its own renewable energy; its own sewerage treatment; its own food production; and finally, its own rubbish disposal — in order to be a self-sustainable house that doesn’t pollute the environment.
Rubén Cortés, from Mexico, is one of those Earthship Academy graduates — he spent his savings to study Biotecture — and is currently building an Earthship-inspired building near Kuala Lumpur, under the umbrella of his social organisation Build for Tomorrow. He’s is doing so along with the Temuan people, an ethnic group belonging to the indigenous Malaysian population, the Orang Asli. “They used to be nomads but economic growth chased them out of the jungle and forced them to participate in the system. They have to stay in small villages in lowland valleys and are not allowed to hunt for their food anymore. Meanwhile, the jungle is being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. Thus, the Orang Asli have learned what poverty is…”, explains Cortés, who engaged five of the men as paid construction workers. The Earthship will consist of a community centre and a private family house; the surrounding land is for use by all. “The biggest challenge has been to have a large group of skilled volunteers on-site constantly, and to coordinate the labour.” Cortés works mainly with locals who have full-time jobs and don’t have the ability to take a leave of absence for a couple of weeks like workers on Earthship sites in the West. Raising funds has also proven difficult.
But despite this, Cortés sees advantages to building an Earthship in Malaysia compared toembarking on such a project in the West. As Reynolds says, “There are still many places in the world that are not as stringent as the EU, USA, and Australia, where cultural traditions, rules, regulations, and dogmas prevent us from engaging in a new way of living.” Cortés adds, “In Malaysia, like all over Southeast Asia, construction is big business. And there is a small but growing demand for his kind of ecological building. Most important of all is to bring awareness, and to explain that making a profit and investing in ecology can actually go together.”
Text by Veerle Devos https://www.facebook.com/OURvos
Earthship Biotecture earthship.com
Build for the Future build.wildasia.org
