Architecture Professor Anthony Burke is back with a brand new series of Grand Designs Australia following some truly brave home builders taking on the challenge of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
That’s how the self-described folk-singing bohemians ended up with a 1.5-hectare plot of land in early 2019, just outside the eclectic community of Cygnet, 40 minutes away from Hobart.<\/p>\n
At $330,000, it was far cheaper than any of their options in Victoria’s capital.<\/p>\n
It also came with greater design freedom, enabling them to pursue another of their long-held dreams: crafting their very own “earthships”.<\/p>\n
The couple planned to use the sprawling block for at least two ambitious homes inspired by the earthship building movement that took off in the desert of New Mexico in the 1970s \u2014 one for Kate and Matt and their two children, and an identical one next door for Matt’s Dad.<\/p>\n
The rise of the earthship<\/p>\n
Both were designed by Martin Freney, a registered building designer who specialises in earthships.<\/p>\n
Dr Freney also happens to be the first person in Australia to get council approval for the earthship he finished in Ironbank, South Australia, in 2016.<\/p>\n
He explains that natural and recycled materials are at the heart of earthship design, which was developed by US architect Michael Reynolds in response to the 1970s energy crisis.<\/p>\n
Earthships are sustainable, off-grid homes that:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Are built using recycled and natural materials\u00a0<\/li>\n
- Use passive climate control<\/li>\n
- Include an integrated food-producing greenhouse<\/li>\n
- Generate their own power, water and treat their own sewage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
“They aim to be self-sufficient in their power, water and wastewater treatment, and there’s a range of principles associated with that around sustainability and minimising the eco footprint of the inhabitants,” Dr Freney says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earthships aren’t just cheaper to run and less susceptible to water and power outages because they’re off-grid; the materials they call for also increase their resilience to natural disasters.<\/p>\n
Many of these design elements are seen as architectural best practice today, but Dr Freney estimates there are only about 15 completed earthships across Australia.<\/p>\n
He puts this down to the reputation they have of being a planning approval challenge \u2014 which Dr Freney disagrees with \u2014 and the fact that the first wave of earthships looked “weird”.<\/p>\n
“People often refer to them as Hobbit houses, though I think they’re more like something out of Star Wars,” he jokes.<\/p>\n
The Turbine House earthship in Taos, New Mexico, finished in 1982.(Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
The Turbine House earthship in Taos, New Mexico, finished in 1982. (Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
A young Michael Reynolds building an earthship with recycled cans.(Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
A young Michael Reynolds building an earthship with recycled cans. (Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
The first Earthships in New Mexico were built to withstand temperature extremes.(Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
The first earthships in New Mexico were built to withstand temperature extremes. (Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
Greenhouses play a vital role in an earthship’s functionality and sustainability.(Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
Greenhouses play a vital role in earthships’ functionality and sustainability. (Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
The Phoenix East Earthship, designed by Michael Reynolds.(Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
The Phoenix East earthship, designed by Michael Reynolds. (Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
Earthship Vallecitos, a newer build in Taos, New Mexico, was completed in 2018.(Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
Earthship Vallecitos, a newer build in Taos, New Mexico, was completed in 2018. (Supplied: Earthship Biotecture)<\/p>\n
This is largely the result of the reused and organic materials the first earthships used, which could have been anything from beer cans taped together to form “bricks”, to recycled tyres filled with soil, to glass bottles and earth floors.<\/p>\n
But the earthship aesthetic started shifting about the turn of the century, “changing to something a bit more contemporary”, Dr Freney says.<\/p>\n
A fresh wave of builders who faced renewed societal challenges from climate change to cost of living began reconsidering, often on social media, what an earthship could be.<\/p>\n
Matt and Kate were two of them.<\/p>\n
From earthship to sleek, modern spaceship<\/p>\n
With their Cygnet property, the couple set out to marry modern design elements with the hallmarks of the pioneering earthships of the past.<\/p>\n
Many of the differences are glaring; Kate and Matt’s design eschewed the curved lines and feel of most earthships, tending towards sharp edges.<\/p>\n
The Cygnet earthship design relied heavily on tried and tested earthship mechanics.(ABC\/Fremantle Media)<\/p>\n
Instead of the traditional external walls using soil-filled tyres, both two-bedroom homes were to be lined by monolithic rammed earth walls that would function as thermal batteries.<\/p>\n
The usual earth floor would be too cold for Tasmania. So, they opted for a more practical \u2014 if less environmentally friendly and more expensive \u2014 concrete foundation.<\/p>\n
But, buried within those foundations, Kate and Matt planned to lay conventional earthship mechanics: A system of tubes that exchange heat with the earth and push a consistent temperature of air up to the house, negating the need for any other heating or cooling system.<\/p>\n
Matt and Kate estimated it would take them 15 months to build both earthships.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
The internal walls were to be made with a mix of local clay and straw, known as cob, punctuated by recycled glass bottles that would filter sunlight and add flashes of blue, green and white to the interior.<\/p>\n
No earthship is complete without a north-facing sunroom that doubles as a fruit-and-vegetable-producing greenhouse, fed by recycled greywater.<\/p>\n
And the couple planned to add a solar system and water tanks.<\/p>\n
Those white PVC pipes jutting out from the foundations of Kate and Matt’s house are known as “earth tubes”, which draw air of a consistent temperature into the house.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
Work began in August 2022 for their projected 15-month build, which Kate and Matt expected to cost about $600,000 per house, despite calling for many recycled and natural materials.<\/p>\n
“It’s about the same [cost as a typical custom house],” Matt says. “But the idea is the quality is much better in terms of the energy efficiency, the sustainability of that product, and the cost of living in it will be significantly less.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If only things like plans, budgets and timescales always went as intended for first-time owner-builders \u2014 let alone first-time owner-builders who both work full-time day jobs and have young children.<\/p>\n