Solar Gain
A beautiful little building, inspired by the Earthships of Phoenix, a concept by the architect Mike Reynolds... I heard him speak at the University of Stirling, and subsequently at a Scottish Parliament committee... From those early meetings, this little baby Earthship was born - a demonstration model, shall we say, and one that I'd been meaning to visit for years!
The idea is that the building is completely off-grid, and self-sustaining. The roof catches water which is filtered for drinking. Waste from showers and taps is then used for toilets, and this waste is subsequently used to grow plants... The building is built into a south-ish-facing slope, with walls made of rammed-earth tires which act as an effective heat-sink. As an antithesis to high-insulation buildings with a high embodied-energy and thus carbon footprint, the Earthship minimises the footprint even further - the glazing is virtually the only material that need come in from off-site. The result is actually rather beautiful.
Find out more about Earthships at www.earthship.net/ and about this one in particular at www.sci-scotland.org.uk/index.shtml - I'd recommend visiting!
Solar Gain
A beautiful little building, inspired by the Earthships of Phoenix, a concept by the architect Mike Reynolds... I heard him speak at the University of Stirling, and subsequently at a Scottish Parliament committee... From those early meetings, this little baby Earthship was born - a demonstration model, shall we say, and one that I'd been meaning to visit for years!
The idea is that the building is completely off-grid, and self-sustaining. The roof catches water which is filtered for drinking. Waste from showers and taps is then used for toilets, and this waste is subsequently used to grow plants... The building is built into a south-ish-facing slope, with walls made of rammed-earth tires which act as an effective heat-sink. As an antithesis to high-insulation buildings with a high embodied-energy and thus carbon footprint, the Earthship minimises the footprint even further - the glazing is virtually the only material that need come in from off-site. The result is actually rather beautiful.
Find out more about Earthships at www.earthship.net/ and about this one in particular at www.sci-scotland.org.uk/index.shtml - I'd recommend visiting!