Cenizo Journal Spring 2020 | Page 25

The home is built mostly underground. The roof design is optimal for water catchment. A gutter collects rainwater at the roof’s lowest edge and can be directed into storage tanks. Smaller sections of walls were filled in with stacked aluminum cans, bottles and concrete mortar. contractor he is familiar with the “nauseating smell of new construction.” A native Alpine resident, Ashley is grateful one of her closest childhood friends, who is unable to enter most homes due to an extreme chemical sensitivity, can visit their house with ease. Will has built houses for most of his life and states that “Nothing in the Earthship is straight or uniform and the dimensional lumber, concepts, and applications of typical construction are not applicable,” which makes working on his own home always interesting and unique. Ashley and Will’s Earthship is not only a work in progress, it is where life meets art. n Windows spread along the south side of the house create a greenhouse effect. Cenizo Spring 2020 25