The National Archive just put thousands of 1970s era images from the Environmental Protection Agency online. One of the photographers working for the EPA, David Hiser, captured New Mexico architect Michael Reynolds building houses out of adobe and aluminum cans. See a selection of these photos after the jump . . .
Caption: “Exterior of an experimental all aluminum beer and soft drink can house under construction near Taos, New Mexico. This shot was taken two months after the foundation was laid. the wood forms on the top will be used to pour concrete beams.”
Interior view of the all aluminum beer and soft drink can experimental house near Taos, New Mexico. the owners report the house seems to work well so far and gives the feeling of being very solid. the south facing windows capture heat from the sun, a good feature because the winters of the southwest are severe.”
built with empty steel beer and soft drink cans near Taos, New Mexico. the ends
of the cans used in a non-load bearing wall are seen around the window.”
The same house, above, with an exterior coat of adobe.
Caption: “Lawyer Steve Natelson, who lives near Taos, New Mexico, relaxes on the bed of his experimental home built of empty steel beer and soft drink cans. On the wall is a mural of cans left exposed. It was the first such house built by the architect Michael Reynolds who believes this type of housing can be built for as much as 20% less than the conventional method. The Federal Housing Administration has shown interest in issuing loans on this type of housing. The cost is $25,000 to $30,000 for a two-bedroom home.”
See more of David Hiser’s photos of New Mexico here.
For more about this EPA photo collection read an article in the Atlantic, “Documerica Images of America in Crisis in the 1970s“.
Neat photos! Thanks for sharing. Have you seen any articles about the plastic bottle houses being built in Nigeria?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14722179
Same concept, but apparently bulletproof and a good way to upcycle plastic bottles.
Any idea how these houses have done over time?
Interesting. These houses must be the precursors to Reynold’s present day Earthships. And didn’t actor Dennis somebody or other (“McCloud?”) build one of the first beer can houses with Reynolds? http://earthship.com/
I heard they are now building multi million dollar Earthships for the wealthy.
I love it when hippies or kids of hippies become capitalist, ie Humbolt county pot farmers.
Walking around a village near here (north of Madrid) I had to stare at a chicken coop as it looked somewhat odd. After a while I discovered that the walls were made of cement and empty wine bottles. Chickens looked happy enough 🙂 Cool to see an entire house though similarly built though.
Javier
I am so impredded by Michael Reynolds. There is a documentary based on him called Garbage Warrior. He went to Indonesia after the tsunami to show people how to build dwellings with what was on hand, and to capture rainwater off the roofs of these dwellings for drinking, which was important because their wells had been contaminated by sea water
It would be awesome to see what these houses look like now – if beer cans hold up after 30ish years. Awesome idea.
Where is Joel carp? Susan?