“In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.”
- Buckminster Fuller
W hether your dream home ultimately ends up being an Earthship, an earth-shelter, a natural home, a tiny house… or some variation or combination of these… the path ahead is one that can sometimes be difficult and overwhelming. In the chapters that follow, we will line out each step in the process of design to help you find your way. The failure of modern design happened when we started developing future movements around the 20th century ideas of everything having to be entirely new instead of building on the past. We have seen countless homes of the future come and go since the Industrial Revolution... from Claude Ledoux’ sphere home in the nineteenth century, to Disneyland’s “House of the Tomorrow” made by Monsanto and built in 1957 (and abandoned because it was already outdated by 1967)… these interpretations of what we “needed” for the future depended on the technology and the materials of the moment to make their statement. This is a solid foundation on which to build, in principle… use what we have to work with. The problem is that technology becomes outdated more quickly with every passing year. When we build our ideas of home based on fad design techniques and trendy but untested materials and technologies, the vision for the future we just invested in is no longer relevant or useful when those ideas and materials change. 
The Earthship suffers from the same handicap. Forty years ago, there was a real need to do something… anything… with old tires, cans, and bottles. Today, those materials can all be recycled for better uses rather than be reused as building materials. And we know now that the buildings do not meet the performance ideals to which they were designed in many climates. We can move past these limitations - we can take what is good from the Earthships and tweak the rest to make our home work better for our values and location. In fact, if we want to call ourselves truly sustainable, we have a responsibility to. Several of the European Union (EU)-based Earthship organizations decided to look to science to see if the Earthships were truly viable from the standpoint of thermal performance, materials used, and liveability. When they determined that the buildings did not function adequately to meet their needs, they decided to abandon all but the line of separate rooms, the greenhouse, the south-facing wall of windows, the grey water system and rainwater harvesting systems. They then redesigned every remaining detail. We agree with this approach. We would even propose taking it a step further… we would abandon the tropical-style greenhouse as it is currently designed and add a window wall designed to passive solar guidelines and an attached production greenhouse instead.
This book is our attempt to share the best information we have learned about Earthships and other natural building ideas from projects, builders, forums, and designers around the world. We then added layers of best practices we use when designing buildings to meet or exceed the requirements of typical municipal green design ordinances, LEED, HUD, USAA, and even the Building Code... so that it is easier for your project to meet or exceed those standards from the outset. 
We will incorporate some of the best design ideas gleaned from our own experience as well as from forward-thinking designs like Frank Lloyd Wright’s timeless Usonian Houses, the “homes for tomorrow” he designed in the 1930s. The Usonian Houses used beautifully detailed natural materials and offered a living “heart” of the home in the living areas (often centered around a fireplace). They worked with and embraced nature and he incorporated people-scaled spaces in the home. We will also explore the underlying principles in the teachings of the first century Roman architect Vitruvius who called for buildings to be built on the principals of “firmness, commodity, and delight”, so we will also address structural stability, designing spaces sized and oriented for the way we live, and designing spaces that feed our souls. Because that is part of what we see is missing from the general built environment... not just Earthships.
We have built some resources for you to find inspiration from this rich history we all share. Check out our Pinterest boards titled Usonian, Magic Cottages, EcoCommunities, and Archinia’s Inspired Idea Book to find ideas from projects around the world. 
We also love our friend Sigi Koko’s website www.buildnaturally.com and her Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/buildnaturallyfor the best of the best in great design tips for natural building. 
As well, we love our friend Oliver Swann’s Natural Home website at http://www.NaturalHomes.org .