In building a house we wanted to construct a shelter that functioned in an ecologically intelligent way. We used natural building methods and materials to construct a living environment that engages the natural world in a modern way. A linear concept with large open spaces and long rows of windows invite a flow of solar and wind energy, rainwater catchment, and greywatering in the high desert. The red dirt and sagebrush combine with a low energy, environmentally efficient design.

By building a sustainable living structure, we were able to establish a practice for creating a clean environment, enabling us to live our values on a day by day basis. In addition to building with earth, adobe, tires, cans, and found materials, the opportunity to build debt free by building as we went was irresistible. In reducing the amount of wood in the structure by some 70% through replacing conventional construction materials with recycled materials, we were able not only bring the construction cost down dramatically, we were able to contribute to the larger goal of reduced consumption and waste so often found in the process of building a home.

One tends to feel like this house will last a very long time, be there for many decades, maybe longer, just as the uplifts and surrounding canyons will be, fading, changing over time, dissolving to something else. For now it's an interdependent vehicle, a living, breathing biosphere capable of supporting life, an astonishing advance in the concept of sustainable housing.