This course is for anyone thinking about building their own home and anyone interested in learning about Earthships. Includes practical workshops.
What is an Earthship?
An Earthship is a low impact building that makes use of recycled materials in its construction including over 1000 car tyres. It has passive solar heating and cooling and uses only renewable technologies. All the water used is harvested from rain-water and recycled with waste water management on site.
What will the Self-building an Earthship course cover?
We will go through how a building can use the sun instead of central heating and how to build in natural, passive ventilation. We’ll look at how it is possible to live off-grid. This includes how you can harvest and recycle water and an outline of the relative merits of micro-renewable technologies like solar, biomass, wind and hydro. We will look at what you need to think about when sourcing environmentally-friendly materials and how to avoid the most damaging materials.
Mischa Hewitt will discuss the practicalities of turning the dream into a reality: getting planning permission, building control and finances. You’ll get hands-on practical experience in ramming car tyres that make up the walls of an Earthship, earth rendering, and making a glass bottle brick wall. Lastly, you’ll see how all these elements come together in case studies including Earthship Brighton.
This course will build on the good work of Mike Reynolds and focus on adapting Earthships to the UK climate.
A taste of what you’ll learn
For more videos from our Self-building an Earthship course, on topics ranging from cob rendering to rainwater harvesting: click here.
Who is the course for?
This course is open to anyone aged 16 or over. It is for anyone thinking about building their own home and anyone interested in learning about Earthships. It is suitable for complete beginners, as well as those who are familiar with eco-building and want to know more.
Learning methods and outcomes
Participants will learn what needs to be considered when building an environmentally sensitive home as well as what is involved in building an Earthship. They will learn how to gain autonomy and free themselves from gas and electricity bills. They will learn basic building physics which can shed light on how all buildings work. They will also gain the knowledge and confidence to take their ideas to the next stage.
Course tutors
Rebecca Sarll is the main tutor and is a qualified trainer with an MSc in Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies (Distinction) from the Centre for Alternative Technology. She has experience in straw bale and hemp lime building as well as more conventional construction methods.
Jon Kalviac worked on Earthship Brighton and also on the Zwolle Earthship built in Holland last year. He is a regular tour guide of Earthship Brighton and has much experience of working with rammed tyres.
Mischa Hewitt was one of the project managers of Earthship Brighton, is the author of the book Earthships in Europe, and has an MSc in Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies (Distinction) from the Centre for Alternative Technology. He is a building consultant, domestic and non-domestic energy assessor, and has worked on many eco renovation projects.