The Dobson House Architecture

About fifteen years ago, Michael Reynolds, a Taos architect, began building environmentally friendly homes. He used discarded materials (automobile tires and aluminum cans), earth berms, thick ceilings, lots of south facing glass. The houses were solar-electric with no central heating or cooling and used rain water collected from the roof. The finish was natural adobe. Reynolds developed a solar toilet, so there would be no effluent contaminating the water table. His wife, Chris, called the homes "earthships" because they were not connected to any system for the water or electricity, and just kind of "sailed" around.

We were attracted mainly by Reynolds' softly curving interior shapes, and the fact that you could build the house yourself. Dobson House is not a conventional earthship as we have a well and traditional plumbing. The house is constructed of tires and cans (2,000 tires and 20,000 cans) and is solar electric. The house was originally laid out by Reynolds' office with 4 lower bedrooms and no corridor. We added the corridor to save old junipers on each side of the space and built two lower guest rooms. It took us about three years to build the home and we did about 80% of the work.

Photo #1)

Looking east, the upper tire level walls are going up. It takes about 20 minutes to pack one tire by pounding dirt and rocks in with a 10 pound sledge hammer.
Photo #2)

The upper roof is trussed. We placed the trusses then poured a cement bond beam.

Photo #3)

Looking south from the top of the hill. The roof deck is on. 12" x 12" Douglas fir beams rest on the pine posts with a cement bond beam tying the beams together. The forms for the window bond beam rest on tires.
Photo #4)

Installing the vigas downstairs. We leveled the vigas, then poured the bond beam. The box on the left is the rough frame for the west bathroom window.

Photo #5)

Windows being set in place upstairs. This is a test of the framing because the windows have only 1/4" leeway all around to fit into.
Photo #6)

More or less weather tight the first winter.

Photo #7)

Inside now, the forms for the east bathroom are in place. Can walls for the shower and the arch are going up.
Photo #8)

This is how the stairway began, from the common room.

 
 Photo #9)

Same angle, with the steps roughed in with cans
Photo #10)

The corridor has been shaped and the steps roughed in. There's very little topsoil, mostly rock and gravel and clay. We dug it out with pick axes and shovels.

Photo #11)

The corridor looking up. The earth walls have been plastered and the floor is being installed.
Photo #12)

Setting up the can walls for the upper flight of stairs. The cans are double on the bottom.

 
 Photo #13)

The common room is insulated with foam. The rafters are radial, which leaves odd shaped spaces to fill. The vapor barrier is glued up with butyl rubber to keep moist air out of the roof spaces.
Photo #14)

The upper stairway is taking shape, ready for wire and cement plaster.

Photo #15)

And it is actually finished!
Photo #16)

The corridor looks finished, but there's no handrail.

 

 
 Photo #17)

We bent the tubing ourselves, had pegs welded and cemented it in. There's still no plaster on the risers.
Photo #18)

The common room, looking north, still with no trim above the 12 x 12s, but a lot more civilized with the floor down. Photo #1 is taken from about where the stove is, three years earlier.