Big Bend Home & Garden
Far West Texas is one of Earth’s truly extraordinary landscapes, inhabited by equally
unique communities. The climate, flora, and fauna of Big Bend are at the same time
entrancing and austere. It’s a place where “remote” is hardly accurate to describe the
distances. All this, and more, combine to attract and produce the creative, resourceful,
and tenacious people who make home here. Here is a look into some of those homes.
by Kleo Belay
Alpine Earthship:
Ashley and Will Baker
In the 1970s the visionary
architect Michael Reynolds
began designing and building
the first Earthship structures
in Taos, New Mexico. These
subterranean homes feature
exposed south-facing windows
and are typically constructed
with recycled materials such as
scrap tires, cans, and bottles.
Load bearing walls are made
by stacking tires and filling
each tire with rammed earth.
One such structure has been a
work in progress in Alpine for
nearly 30 years. Ten years ago,
this loved and quirky structure
became the home and ongoing
project of Ashley and Will
Baker.
When
the
unfinished
Earthship came up for sale,
they were determined to make
it their family home, though
unconventional structures such
as
theses
are
virtually
impossible to finance. But the
unconventional life was the
perfect fit for this family of
four. Will and Ashley were
delighted to move into a home
which innately spoke to the
imagination and playful nature
of
their
children.
They
remember how their son and
daughter would climb on the
roof and walls with their
friends, excited and happy in
what to them was a giant
“playhouse.”
Shaped like a horseshoe and
built
underground,
with
windows and doors placed for
optimal ventilation, the house
needs little in the way of
heating and cooling as the
earth is a natural insulator.
The Bakers use just two small
propane heaters when winter
temperatures plummet, and
they turn on their evaporative
coolers only in the afternoons of
the hottest summer days.
Underground
living
also
creates a natural sound barrier
and privacy. Will and Ashley
playfully call themselves “sub-
terrestrials” and everyone else
“top-siders.”
Naturally inclined toward
earth-conscious
living,
inhabiting an Earthship gives
the couple no choice but to live
an eco-friendly lifestyle. The
used water from their shower
and sinks returns to the earth
through a grey-water system
and waters the trees around
the house. For this reason, they
use only biodegradable soaps
and cleaners. The interior
walls are plastered with a
mixture of water, dirt and
sand,
none
of
the
manufactured
or
refined
materials
like
paint
or
sheetrock are part of their
living space. Living in the
Earthship has “heightened his
senses,” claims Will. As a
building 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
WestTexasMoves.com • BigBendRealEstateGuide.com
Will and Ashley Baker
After the house footprint was excavated, scrap tires filled with rammed earth were
laid for the exterior and weight-bearing internal walls.
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
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