CHAPTER III: Home Design with YOU in Mind
Designing a home is an enormous undertaking. Helping to design and manage these complex projects is one of the things we do in our office. It takes many hands and many months to pull together all the information needed to craft a design and then to detail a home so that it meets the client’s quality and performance standards and makes our clients feel truly “at home”.
We know that many people would like to design and create a space that they can build themselves or with their community. Their motivation might be being environmentally-sensitive, fulfilling the dream of designing a home of one’s own, or it might be about getting the most home value for the money you have to invest. Designing a home can prove to be frustrating without any training or guidance. For some, it might even prove impossible. There is so much to know and learning it all can take a lifetime. And, just when you think you have it figured out, you meet someone from somewhere else and they do things exactly the opposite way of what you thought was “right”. Or technology or science change and suddenly what was right is now wrong. With sixteen plus years of practice under my belt, I am only just realizing that beginner’s mind is an essential element in design. It allows me to question all of my assumptions and go back to science to look for reasons to do something… or not to. So, please, do not lose faith. You can work your way through this too. It is all about taking your gut feelings and figuring out what they are really telling you, and then turning to people who are craftsmen, like the team we have brought on for this effort, to get their expertise to help you do it well.
In this book we want to share the resources as well as the ideas, tips, tricks, and rules of thumb that we have learned along the way. We want to empower our readers to achieve their home design goals in ways that support their lifestyle and their values, whether they use the Earthship idea fully or just borrow aspects they love from it. We will walk through our process of design in the next chapters so that readers have the tools needed to make their self-designed space shine. For materials, we will offer a broad swath of what is available, not depending solely on traditional Earthship design techniques.
Some of the biggest questions that you will need to answer in regard to how you want to build and live in your new home will require you to define your values. Sometimes there is no easy choice. There are pros and cons for every system and material. You will find reasons to use adobe and reasons for using strawbale instead. You will have to make a choice about which of those works for you. You may not want to use wood products because that may go against a deeply held environmental value that motivates you to save every bit of the earth and allow it to remain natural. So when it comes to choosing fiberglass windows versus clad-wood, you may choose fiberglass. Alternately, you may not want to use plastic products and support the oil industry that manufactures them. It is all about understanding your own values and determining what works for you. The same holds true for the aspects of design we will talk about here.
This book is not intended to deal with the technicalities of building. There are plenty of resources available outside of this work that excel in technical building details for various systems, but lack what we are trying to offer in design. We will also not cover the Water Organizing Modules, Power Organizing Modules, or equipment and appliances typical in Earthships here. Those systems are covered in Earthship, Volumes 2 and 3. We are going to cover some of what is missing from the standard literature as well as alternate options for those for whom grid-tied means affordable. We will also try to explain the underlying principles behind the different materials and methods so that you can make more informed design decisions and choose the methods and materials that will help you to live the life you want. Which of these materials and methods you go with depends on your values, your experience level, and your budget... and whether you build grid-tied, or off-grid. Hopefully, you will find a combination of resources that works for you!
This book is written from the point of view of New Mexico, USA. The issues that we discuss here are designed for the northern hemisphere. We try and provide guidance for southern hemisphere applications where appropriate.
We hope that this will be just the beginning, and that we will add to the book in future editions to make it better. It is all about bringing architecture to the People. And, hopefully, doing it in a truly sustainable way that makes life better for everyone. That is our mission.
We know that many people would like to design and create a space that they can build themselves or with their community. Their motivation might be being environmentally-sensitive, fulfilling the dream of designing a home of one’s own, or it might be about getting the most home value for the money you have to invest. Designing a home can prove to be frustrating without any training or guidance. For some, it might even prove impossible. There is so much to know and learning it all can take a lifetime. And, just when you think you have it figured out, you meet someone from somewhere else and they do things exactly the opposite way of what you thought was “right”. Or technology or science change and suddenly what was right is now wrong. With sixteen plus years of practice under my belt, I am only just realizing that beginner’s mind is an essential element in design. It allows me to question all of my assumptions and go back to science to look for reasons to do something… or not to. So, please, do not lose faith. You can work your way through this too. It is all about taking your gut feelings and figuring out what they are really telling you, and then turning to people who are craftsmen, like the team we have brought on for this effort, to get their expertise to help you do it well.
In this book we want to share the resources as well as the ideas, tips, tricks, and rules of thumb that we have learned along the way. We want to empower our readers to achieve their home design goals in ways that support their lifestyle and their values, whether they use the Earthship idea fully or just borrow aspects they love from it. We will walk through our process of design in the next chapters so that readers have the tools needed to make their self-designed space shine. For materials, we will offer a broad swath of what is available, not depending solely on traditional Earthship design techniques.
Some of the biggest questions that you will need to answer in regard to how you want to build and live in your new home will require you to define your values. Sometimes there is no easy choice. There are pros and cons for every system and material. You will find reasons to use adobe and reasons for using strawbale instead. You will have to make a choice about which of those works for you. You may not want to use wood products because that may go against a deeply held environmental value that motivates you to save every bit of the earth and allow it to remain natural. So when it comes to choosing fiberglass windows versus clad-wood, you may choose fiberglass. Alternately, you may not want to use plastic products and support the oil industry that manufactures them. It is all about understanding your own values and determining what works for you. The same holds true for the aspects of design we will talk about here.
This book is not intended to deal with the technicalities of building. There are plenty of resources available outside of this work that excel in technical building details for various systems, but lack what we are trying to offer in design. We will also not cover the Water Organizing Modules, Power Organizing Modules, or equipment and appliances typical in Earthships here. Those systems are covered in Earthship, Volumes 2 and 3. We are going to cover some of what is missing from the standard literature as well as alternate options for those for whom grid-tied means affordable. We will also try to explain the underlying principles behind the different materials and methods so that you can make more informed design decisions and choose the methods and materials that will help you to live the life you want. Which of these materials and methods you go with depends on your values, your experience level, and your budget... and whether you build grid-tied, or off-grid. Hopefully, you will find a combination of resources that works for you!
This book is written from the point of view of New Mexico, USA. The issues that we discuss here are designed for the northern hemisphere. We try and provide guidance for southern hemisphere applications where appropriate.
We hope that this will be just the beginning, and that we will add to the book in future editions to make it better. It is all about bringing architecture to the People. And, hopefully, doing it in a truly sustainable way that makes life better for everyone. That is our mission.
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