The term “earthship” is a bit of an overstatement. The name connotes an earthen vessel which slowly creeps over the sea or air, perhaps carrying with it a crew representing earth’s only hope. The reality, while cool, is not nearly that cool.

The earthships of reality are made by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, New Mexico and they’re a bit different than your normal house. If green is a trend, earthships are the trend setters. Earthships don’t typically come equipped with things like heating and air conditioning, choosing instead to rely on passive solar technology and recycled tires to control the internal environments.

Many earthships are also built off the grid, using water recycling systems and generating their own electricity through solar and wind harnessing technology. And they look like they’d fit in just fine on Tatooine. I know, that’s two Star Wars references in as many posts. Anyone else sensing a trend here?

Yes, this technically isn’t an Earthship, nor does anyone claim it to be. However, if you recall last week’s post that actually was an Earthship, you might recall how I said that such a house should look like it was slowly creeping over the world be it on land, sea, or in this case, the air.

And yes, this house is no longer technically around, having been in May of 2007. But, what kind of blogger would I be if I let details like that get in the way of just how freaking cool looking this thing is?

According to the folks over at Microscopiq, this wasn’t a house, but rather a fertilizer barn built onto the remnants of an old bunker. The entire structure was held aloft on that one cantilever. And the bulk of the castle appears to be made out of corrugated metal.

The resemblance to the animated “Howl’s Moving Castle” is slightly more than fleeting.

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