Earthquake Resistant Tire Earthships for Haiti Disaster Relief

<a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/01/14/emergency-shelters-and-disaster-relief-for-the-people-of-haiti/" target="_blank">Haiti</a> is still in a world of hurt, especially with regards to a lack of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/05/14/2-million-haitians-live-in-tents-they-still-need-our-help-rebuilding/" target="_blank">safe and earthquake resistant housing</a>. <a href="http://earthship.com/" target="_blank">Michael Reynolds</a>, an architect from Taos, New Mexico specializing in building earthships, recently traveled to Haiti with a crew in hopes of doing a little reconnaissance. In the end they did more than just check out the lay of the land - they built a home in four days out of <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/02/port-au-prince-could-be-recycled-and-rebuilt-from-itself/" target="_blank">discarded materials</a> that just happened to be laying around. Reynolds has plans to build whole villages of earthship homes that are completely water and energy self-sufficient for the area.

This almost finished earthship is 120 sq feet and made from 120 found tires packed with dirt.

Reynolds and his team of two builders and a cameraman traveled to Haiti mostly to do research, but ended up building a whole home.

Here the team begins laying out tires and packing them with dirt.

Reynolds was unable to do much work due to a recent surgery, and two of his team members got sick while down there, so much of the construction was performed by locals under their direction.

Forty locals ranging in age from 4 to 50 helped build the Earthship and were very interested in helping out.

Tires are stacked on top of one another in a round and then packed with dirt.

The group built the Earthship in just four days. The locals were very eager to help and as Reynolds says, “They had nothing to do. They were all eager to learn, and it turns out all the skills we could do, they could do.”

Reynolds relaxed with locals during his stay in Haiti. He plans to return in October to finish his work and build more homes.

In October, Reynolds will come back to finish the house, adding plaster to the exterior, water and solar collection systems, and a screened-in veranda with flush toilets.

This earthship is a prototype of what could be in Haiti and it was largely built by locals and could easily be replicated.

Here is the completed earthship minus the finishing touches.

Reynolds has plans to outfit the earthships so they are completely self-sufficient and generate their own power, collect rainwater, have sewage treatment and have areas to grow food.

A rendering of the Earthship Eco Village in Haiti.