Will Vogler, an Ambler resident, was recently featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer for building the “Tamaqua Sustainability Project,” a new age “Earthship” on an 18-acre property in rural Schuylkill County.
The 80’x50′ structure doubles as a home and a greenhouse, and features a natural heating and cooling system, an off-grid water filtration plant, a septic system, and is entirely constructed from recycled materials such as bottles, cans, and tires.
The project was inspired by New Mexico’s original Earthship, first designed and built in 1979 by architect Mike Reynolds. Roughly 3,000 around the world have been built since, each a self-sustaining archetype.
From the article:
Vogler, a Penn State graduate, dabbled in generators but was surprised at how little they could actually power. He hired organic farmers to turn his backyard into an edible landscape and, after learning about Earthship biotecture picked their brains about building a greenhouse in that style.
“They had no clue what I was talking about,” he said.
He also created a GoFundMe with plenty of photos from the project. Check it out along with this Youtube video featuring the project: