Earthship Biotecture: Sustainable architecture for a changing climate
With Michael E Reynolds
Monday
27 July 2009
Jointly Presented by Zero Waste SA, the Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture & Design, the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and the State of Design Festival
Powerpoint
presentation from Michael Reynolds
(as a pdf format 24MB)
Audio transcript now available (mp3 format 74MB)
Architect Michael Reynolds, of Taos, New Mexico, USA will present his key
principles of sustainable architecture. Mike is the originator of the
"Earthship" a self-sufficient, energy efficient house which provides its own
heating/cooling, electricity, water and sewage treatment. Most
notably, the Earthship is made from "waste": approximately 1000 end-of-life
car tyres are used in a typical 3 bedroom home thereby creating beautiful
(you won't see the tyres!), durable, load-bearing walls from a waste product
that is highly problematic to recycle. Aluminium cans, glass bottles,
and sheet metal from white goods, are also creatively embodied in the
Earthship thus reducing the cost and the impact on the environment.
Biography:
Michael (Mike) Reynolds has spent the last three and half decades
devoted to developing new forms of architecture that specifically address
the issues of waste, pollution and unsustainable lifestyles. He is the
originator of the Earthship concept, an idea that is rapidly rising from
obscurity as we struggle to find solutions to the challenges of climate
change, declining resources (particularly energy and water) and pollution.
Mike's ability to transform "waste" into sustainable housing, which is now
manifest in hundreds of Earthships in many countries, has had a varied
response. He has been portrayed as a hero, in the motion picture
documentary "Garbage Warrior" for his crusade to bring sustainable
architecture within the reach of all, and he has been labelled a dangerous
maverick - who "runs sewage through the living room" - and has been
prosecuted by his local board of architects. His architecture and
construction company is called Earthship Biotecture which is located in
Taos, New Mexico, USA. Currently Mike is working on a large Earthship
community in Taos, New Mexico and he regularly tours the world with his
construction crew building demonstration Earthships.
While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public
program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University
of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest
of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of:
strengthening our democracy - valuing our cultural diversity - and building
our future.