Taos Earthships
updated January 26, 2021
Earthships—the name, the definition, the movement—are either foreign or a complete familiarity. There’s pretty much no in-between. And for those who live in Taos, New Mexico, Earthships have become part of an everyday vocabulary. Taos is the birthplace, after all. And ever since their inception, these whimsical dwellings have remained a steady pull for curiosity seekers, off-grid investors, and environmentalists from across the world.
What is an Earthship?
Just to clarify for those who are indeed unfamiliar, an Earthship isn’t a post-apocalyptic vessel to survive in after the aliens ravage existing resources from our planet. Or maybe it is, depending on your viewpoints around preparedness.
Ushered into existence by architect Michael Reynolds in the 1970s, an experiment of compacting discarded tin cans into bricks became the building blocks and ultimately the walls for the off-grid, solar-powered, and passive energy homes of today. Disposed tires, cans, and other recyclable materials are all used in the construction process, making them a great option for anyone interested in building a sustainable home.
Earthen-bermed into the scrubby pale green pasture, their profiles are a bit more hunkered down than a traditional home. Bottle rinds glint amber cola, emerald, straw yellow, and crystalline discs as you slow down to take in the unconventional details. Backdropped by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, long windows lean into the sun’s warmth, mirroring the vibrant New Mexico sunsets.
where to stay in an Earthship?
We stayed for a weekend in the Oddhouse (pictured below), a home that is sadly no longer available for rent on Airbnb. But if you’re interested in renting one of these unique homes, there are several Earthships for rent in Taos. Most of the Earthships are located just north of Taos within the Greater World Earthship Community in El Prado, the largest private subdivision of its kind in the world.
This particular home was a hut design, two round rooms that are connected by a greenhouse corridor. Large south-facing windows are essential to the solar gain principles often used in off-grid building. The insolation effect and thermal mass of the rammed tires help keep the home warm while cooling tubes and up-draft vented windows assist in cooling.
Our Earthship featured a wood stove for additional heat, a large screen television, and several cautionary tips for conserving power and other precious resources like water.
TAOS EARTHSHIP MODERN + MESA - Photo courtesy of Airbnb.
coolest Earthships on Airbnb
The Phoenix Earthship
One of the most unique homes on all of Airbnb, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more artful and unusual place to stay throughout the world.
Taos Earthship: modern + mesa
This bright and sunny modern Earthship is full of clean lines and calm vibes, perfect for a restful retreat. The circular spa-like bathroom is worth booking alone.
spectacular Earthship
Colorful and vibrant, the night sky pictures taken outside this dreamy home will make you want to settle in under the stars.
Earthships for sale in Taos
If you think owning an Earthship would be pretty cool, you’re not alone. Inspired so instantly by this concept of off-grid living, we began scouring local listings for Earthships for sale within the first hour of our stay.
In that same hour, our dreams were quickly steamrolled. There’s a painfully low inventory of Earthships in Taos, probably due to their uniqueness, rental income potential, and the limited amount of builders in the area. They aren’t exactly the most affordable home to buy either, especially if you’re looking to purchase one that’s already completed. We routinely look for Earthship listings, and the average asking price for a two-bedroom Earthship seems to hover around $500,000.
If you’re willing to build an Earthship yourself, Michael Reynold’s company Earthship Biotecture offers to handle the full process. For brave DIY-ers or owner-builders, construction drawings and instruction books are also available for purchase through their website. But there are some real challenges to building one on your own, including permitting and financing constraints.
How hard is it to build an Earthship?
East of Colorado Springs, a proposed development named Earthship Village Colorado struggled for four years in a pre-build phase.
The project planned to create 45 to 50 five-acre Earthship home sites, but it stalled amid a legal battle over water rights and ultimately failed. Situated on a prairie and backdropped by snow-capped peaks, Earthship Village Colorado shared a similar landscape to that of the Greater World Earthship Community in Taos.
The failure of Earthship Village Colorado points to major hurdles with establishing a private and entirely off-grid community. Even with Reynold’s success, both in Taos and globally, his fight to change building code laws in New Mexico has been a multi-year battle. Michael’s efforts have been extensively written about, shared, and documented in the 2007 film Garbage Warrior.
Taos Earthships Tour
The best way to experience an Earthship is to stay in one. But if that’s not an option, Earthship Biotecture offers three tour options at their Earthship Global Visitor Center. Reservations can be made in advance for self-guided, guided, or private tours. It’s important to note that these tours are limited to the visitor center building and surrounding grounds and not the private homes throughout the Greater World Earthship Community.
As the community itself is privately-owned, the tours are really the only way to get a close look at an Earthship without trespassing.
This is yet another reason why we recommend overnighting in an Earthship within the community. Not only will you gain a greater understanding of what living in an Earthship is all about, but renting one also gains you access to take a closer look at the community itself, and your visit to the visitor center will most likely be included in your stay.
Photographs and text by Elaine Skylar Neal / Travels and Curiosities
more sustainable home ideas
Cordwood Building
Similar to Earthships, cordwood building takes advantage of recycled materials and sustainability practices to create cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly homes.
The Mermaid Cottage
This cordwood casita in Del Norte, Colorado is a great example of a small and sustainable home project that only cost the couple $5,000 to build.
Sustainable housing and why it matters
With some seriously dire forecasts regarding the environment, we can each play a big role in lessoning our impact for future generations.
