Set to be built just outside of Lawrence, Kansas, this new tornado- and fire-resistant project is more than a typical private ‘home’; it is an Earthship residence. ‘Earthships’ were conceived from one man’s vision for the future of housing. Michael E Reynolds founded the unorthodox utopian Earthship community, first in Taos, New Mexico, in the early 1970s, 'intending to create homes that don’t use fossil fuels or generate waste,' Beatrice Galilee reported for Wallpaper* in 2024. Now the community has expanded to more than 60 off-grid, fully independent, self-sustaining homes in Taos and up to 3,000 across the world.
Visualisation of the new Earthship
‘I call it soft development,’ Reynolds previously told Wallpaper*. ‘They have a soft look because they’re also logically encountering the phenomena of the Earth. At the same time, you’ve got your own power, your own water, and your own sewage. You’re secure in the future.'
Plan of the new design
Explore the new Earthship residence design
The new proposal is conceived as a 'tornado- and fire-resistant Refuge Earthship'. It will include two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Embedded in its design are four ferro-cement vaults, which are thin-shell structural roofing elements made from cement mortar applied over layers of fine steel wire mesh and rods. These have been engineered to withstand fire and extreme winds.
The existing Earthship community in Taos, where off-grid homes are nestled into the landscape
The new residence, designed by Reynolds, will be constructed using ‘garbage’, including up to 1,000 tyres to form the structural columns, 16,000 used aluminum cans, and 1,000 old cardboard boxes. These materials are being collected locally, and donations are gladly accepted.
Earthship in Taos, as reported for Wallpaper* in 2024 by Beatrice Galilee, with a shoot by Victoria Sambunaris, produced by Wallpaper* US director Michael Reynolds
‘The current state of the world makes this type of building not only necessary but essential to an incredible amount of people in and outside the US’
Michael E Reynolds
Earthship Biotecture – the name of Reynolds’ organisation as well as this approach to off-grid architecture – follows six principles covering basic human needs: building with natural and repurposed materials; heating and cooling through thermal mass; using wind and solar energy to create electricity; harvesting and filtering rainwater to provide drinking and wash water; containing and treating its own wastewater without external contamination; and producing its own food in an integrated greenhouse.
Michael E Reynolds in an Earthship
Construction will begin on the new building in September, with a dedicated Earthship crew including 25 students from across the world.
Says Reynolds: ‘We are very excited for the construction of this fire- and tornado-resistant Earthship in Kansas. The current state of the world makes this type of building not only necessary but essential to an incredible amount of people in and outside the US. I probably should not say this, but I cannot wait for the building to go through an actual tornado.’