A garage made of tires!

Juli MacDonald of Greenbridge with Matt Ulrich of UBLA

Yesterday I made a site visit to check in on phase 2 of our Georgetown project, the ‘tire garage’.  Phase 1 consisted of the terrace, entry, and rain garden design of the new ‘green’ kitchen addition:  http://www.ub-la.com/projects/residential/georgetown_residence, and phase 2 is well underway right now!

The owners, Elizabeth Rose and Joe Hull, who are actively involved in the Long Way Home project, chose to build the garage out of , well…. tires and discarded bottles!  What does Long Way Home do?  Well, to sum it up, I pulled this from their website:  ” LWH’s first project partnered with community leaders to build a park for the families of San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala. The park features a plant nursery from which LWH runs a reforestation project. Other work includes promoting green building and alternative construction, and we are embarking on the construction of a school that will be built using these alternative construction techniques. LWH partners with Engineers Without Borders to bring running water to rural villages near Comalapa. We build wood burning stoves for families who cook over open fires and water storage tanks for those whose running water is inconsistent. LWH volunteers also work with the local schools teaching about environmental conservation and using trash as construction materials.”  For more information on the great work LWH is doing, visit their website:  http://longwayhomeinc.org/en/index

In short, they are pioneering the use of rubbish for buildings in Guatemala to help deal with 2 enormous problems in that area; an abundance of trash, and a lack of education.  Joe and Elizabeth brought on architect Juli MacDonald of Greenbridge Architects to design the structure and help navigate the challenges of introducing an alternative method of construction to the state and local governments.  UBLA was brought on board to help with the garage placement,  grading, and the challenge of preserving several specimen trees in close proximity to the garage.

I had the pleasure to meet Adam and Elizabeth Howland, Ericka Temple, and Aaron Colvin on the job site.  These 4 people are installing approx. 25 rammed earth tires / day, and hope to have the tire installation complete by the end of this week.  The next step is the application of the ‘cob’, a clay like mud used to finish the gaps between the tires.  This mud will later be stuccoed.  Used bottles of various colors will later be installed on the gable end of the roof to allow filtered light.

It will certainly make for an interesting case study of using alternative materials for construction, and  there are certainly pros and cons for this application in our hemisphere.  Obviously redirecting the tires and bottles from the waste stream is advantageous, as well as the potential cost and transport savings on materials.  I know there have also been some hurdles to trying this here, just a few of which are:  Sourcing the materials (tires), acquiring the necessary building permits, finding a clean fill suitable for the rammed earth, and finding a ‘mud’ with a high enough clay content for the cob overlay.  We’re looking forward to seeing the finished project and will repost when it is done.

Also, there will be a demonstration day at 90 Pond Street, Georgetown Ma from 9am -4pm this Saturday the 10th on site.  Bring your work boots and get dirty trying your hand at a rammed earth tire installation!