Dear HCN,
Michael Reynolds, the
Taos, N.M., acclaimed visionary of the concept of using discarded
tires and aluminum cans to create environmentally responsible homes
called Earthships (HCN, 9/1/97), may be sailing a sinking ship. And
he may be taking naive people with him.
I moved
from the East Coast three years ago and signed an agreement to have
Solar Survival Architecture (SSA) and Michael Reynolds manage the
construction of our Earthship. I felt in tune with his philosophy,
“the necessities of life should be made easily available to all,
independent of economics,” … “while perfectly interfacing with
the planet that we are all traveling on” (Volume III,
Earthships).
But after grossly exceeding both
SSA’s expected building costs and time, I moved into an unfinished
Earthship with leaking windows and roof, a solar system that could
not support the Sunfrost energy-efficient refrigerator (ordered
through SSA), a backed-up toilet and failed water pump, all in the
first week. Two years later, I do not go to sleep with pleasant
sounds of rain on the roof, thinking how good it is to be catching
this water and putting it to use, but rather how many leaks will I
find inside, and must I go outside to loosen the lids on the
cisterns because no overflow was plumbed for this
purpose.
Confronting Mr. Reynolds, I was told
this was all part of the “stress at the end of a project.” I was
asked to confer with SSA and find solutions. I understood this to
mean to just reach a little deeper into my pockets. Add this to a
house that I already paid SSA $290,000 for 2,500 square feet for an
unfinished project and an extra $20,000-$30,000 paid out-of-pocket
for floors, cabinets, sinks, toilets, stove, building products and
some tools, and many more items considered construction costs.
What’s more, our house, halfway into each room, reaches 95 degrees
with an outside temperature of 90 degrees during the summer with
cellular shades on all windows. This house was designed by SSA
architectural staff for another client and appears in Volume I of
the Earthships manual. We made no modifications to the plans other
than those suggested by SSA and their
representatives.
Whatever the outcome of Mr.
Reynolds’ legal clashes with the Taos County Planning Department,
perhaps he should take note of the (more than just a few) people
with serious building concerns. Could it be that he needs the
“harassment of county planners and developers who want us to be a
common subdivision’? Earthships, regardless of their positive
qualities, will remain problems if homeowners do not control or own
the land beneath it, or if a house does not meet coding standards
and is not resaleable at or above
costs.
Beverly
Fung
Santa Fe, New
Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline This Earthship crashed in Santa Fe.
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