Tire wall being rammed with earth, sledgehammer frozen mid-swing during earthship construction
45 MIN
Per tire. Hundreds of tires. Every wall a commitment.
Glass bottle wall glowing amber from interior light in an earthship home
68°F
Year-round. No furnace. No air conditioning.
Aerial view of finished earthship half-buried in New Mexico mesa landscape
ZERO
Utility bills since 2019.
Hands packed with adobe mud during earthship wall construction
$0
Monthly energy cost. Grid-independent forever.
Greenhouse corridor exploding with banana plants growing inside earthship in January
JANUARY
Bananas growing. Desert outside. 28°F ambient.
Cistern cross-section diagram showing rainwater collection system
1,500 GAL
Cistern capacity. Rain is the utility provider.
Family standing barefoot on packed-earth floor of completed earthship home
30 YEARS
Of mortgage-plus-utilities you will never pay.
Solar panels angled against impossible blue sky on earthship roof
100%
Solar powered. No grid connection required.
Taos, New Mexico · Est. 1970s

EARTH
SHIP

Homes that ram tires, harvest rain, and owe nothing to the grid.

Scroll to explore
Thermal Mass ConstructionRainwater HarvestPassive Solar GainBotanical Food CellsZero Utility BillsRecycled MaterialsOff-Grid Sovereignty55 Years of BiotectureThermal Mass ConstructionRainwater HarvestPassive Solar GainBotanical Food CellsZero Utility BillsRecycled MaterialsOff-Grid Sovereignty55 Years of Biotecture
System 01 / Thermal Mass

RAM THE
TIRE.

Every tire is packed with 300 lbs of desert earth, hammered solid. The wall becomes a thermal battery — absorbing solar heat by day, radiating it back through the night. Drag to build.

Drag slider to build
0
Tires placed
0
Wall mass (lbs)
0
Thermal R-value
Ram progress0%
Empty lotComplete wall

Tires are free from auto shops. Earth comes from your own lot. Zero materials cost.

Each tire holds 300 lbs of packed earth. One person, one sledgehammer, 45 minutes per tire.

The wall is now two feet thick. It will hold 68°F inside when it's -10°F outside. No furnace.

Complete. This wall will outlast every wood-framed house on your street by 200 years.

System 02 / Water Harvest

RAIN
IS THE
UTILITY.

Every drop that falls on your roof is captured, filtered through botanical cells, circulated through your home, and returned to the earth. The city water main never enters this equation.

ROOFCISTERN1,500 GALFILTERBOTANICALCELLOUTDOOR GARDEN
01
Rain hits roof
02
Flows to cistern
03
Filtered & treated
04
Into botanical cells
05
Grey water to garden
0 GAL
City water consumed per year
System 03 / Passive Solar

THE SUN
IS THE
FURNACE.

South-facing glass captures solar gain all day. The tire walls absorb it. At night, they release it slowly — holding 68°F while the desert drops to 15°F outside. Drag the hour hand.

GLASS69°FINTERIOR9:00
Hour of day9:00
MidnightMidnight
69°F
Inside
53°F
Outside

Solar gain entering through south-facing glass. Tire walls absorbing thermal mass. No furnace running.

The Real Cost

WHAT IT
COSTS YOU
NOT TO
BUILD THIS.

Thirty years of mortgage payments plus utility bills versus a single earthship build cost. The math is not subtle.

Home size (sq ft)1,500
Monthly utility bills$350/mo
Conventional Home / 30 Years
Build cost$375,000
Mortgage total$943,940
Utility bills$126,000
TOTAL$1,069,940
Earthship / Once
Build cost$337,500
Mortgage$0
Utility bills (ever)$0
TOTAL$337,500
You Keep
$0
Over 30 years. That's not savings. That's sovereignty.
Design My Earthship
Choose Your Vessel

THREE
MODELS.
ONE PLANET.

Full-size family earthship home with greenhouse corridor and south-facing windows in New Mexico
Most Popular
$340,000
Professional build. Turn-key.
The Family Vessel

GLOBAL

1,500–2,500
Sq Ft
14–24 months
Build Time
3–6 people
Occupancy
Double greenhouse thermal
Cistern system (1,500 gal)
Solar array (8kW) + wind
Full botanical corridor
Grey water treatment cells
Underground cooling tubes
Free Resource

THE BUILD
MANUAL.

40 pages. Every system explained. Material lists, cost breakdowns, permit navigation, site selection criteria. A complete education disguised as a PDF — because the more you know, the faster you build.

Site selection and solar orientation
Tire ramming technique and wall design
Rainwater catchment sizing calculator
Passive solar gain calculations
Permit navigation by state
DIY vs professional build cost comparison
FREE DOWNLOAD

No spam. One email. The manual.

Michael Reynolds chose not to patent earthship technology. Knowledge belongs to everyone.