Dave Knifflin, right, coaches local workers in the fine art of building a tire house. Photo: Brooke Rundle

The Earthship has landed
BY COREY KEEGAN

An ambitious team of Americans, working with and training local workers, have started the construction of two houses made primarily of used tires, in the hills six kilometres south of San Juan del Sur. They plan to have the building’s shells complete in two weeks.

Called an “Earthship,” the structures are designed to be self-sustaining -- cooling themselves , creating power, catching their own water, and relying heavily on recycled material for the buildings’ structure, including about 800 used tires that were procured from behind garages around Rivas.

Essentially, the tires are packed with dirt, stacked like bricks, often with plastic or glass bottles providing windows and flexibility in the walls, and then rendered into adobe-like buildings.

“My house is going to be about 1000 square feet, with one bedroom one bathroom,” said Dave Knifflin, 27, who brought the project to San Juan , and is currently a volleyball coach at the University of California at Irvine . “Maybe the shell and the water systems can get done in two weeks. Maybe, but we are going for it.”

Knifflin, who grew up in Northern California , said his ambition to build his Earthship comes from growing up with a grandfather in construction and a father who wanted to build a house that was completely self-sustainable. That combined with his participation in an internship program with Earthship Biotecture in Taos, New Mexico , which has its origins about 30 years ago with architect Mike Reynolds, who also made the trip to San Juan del Sur.

The crew of ten Americans participating have been teamed up with 13 locals, with the idea that training local labor in the construction of Earthships, will enable further self-sustaining homes to built after the project is complete and the crew has returned to their homes in the States. Knifflin was first lured to Nicaragua by friend Tim Kelly, AKA Tim the Giant , who invited Knifflin to build on his property.

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