ByEver wonder what living in an Earthship home would be like? Well, now you can rent one and find out. Terrasol is a mini-earthship built as part of the eco-community called Terra Perma, and it is now available for rent. The community is located in Harrington, approximately two hours away from Montréal.
As you probably already know, the Earthship home was first designed and built by US architect Michael Reynolds, and it’s an easy-to-build home made out of rammed earth, recycled tires, and glass. The home utilizes passive solar heating to create a comfortable living environment. It also doesn’t require any special skills or equipment to build and is very sustainable.
The building of the Terrasol earthship home was supervised by students from the Earthship Biotecture Academy, which was founded by Reynolds in New Mexico. They reused over 200 tires and 400 glass bottles to construct it.
The glazed part of Terrasol is about 30 percent larger than its floor area, which ensures that the interior temperature is steady and comfortable all day long, since it ensures more passive solar heat gain. To reduce the amount of heat, they installed a pipe, which funnels heated air from inside the home to the berm behind it.
The glass façade of this small earthship home faces south to maximize solar heat gain. The home is also surrounded by the earth on three sides, and the thermal mass of the earth effectively stores heat, releasing it slowly during the day. The home is also fitted with solar-powered outlets for charging devices.
The interior looks quite cozy and spacious as well. It’s comprised of a single room, which is dominated by a bed. There is a small dining area on one end, and a sofa for lounging on the other. A wood-burning stove is used to heat the space when needed. The décor is interesting too, with all the furniture made of wood. The bed is especially interesting, with its legs and frame made of tree trunks that have undergone minimal alteration.
