Some construction types and features might better suit your intentions than others. It’s a good idea to sort out your priorities to help you make informed, values-based decisions.
Click here to access a graphical aid to help you untangle some of the noise around construction types and design choices.
Mat and Danielle from Exploring Alternatives recently visited Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., to help share his experiences care-taking the Darfield Earthship.
Mark is a structural engineer who works on alternative structures and is currently the caretaker of the Darfield Earthship in BC. He’s been living there for nearly 2 years,and is also in the process of designing several Earthships so he is an incredible resource. We’re grateful that we had a chance to spend an afternoon picking his brain about his experience living in an Earthship, and learning how they can perform in Canada’s extreme climate (spoiler alert: it varies!). – Exploring Alternatives
| Location: | Darfield Earthship, Darfield, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | November 2019 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., contributed to the Structures for Wood & Water Developments‘ Kamloops 2019 Permaculture Design Certificate Program at The Living Arts Studio where he taught about
Hosted by Gord Hiebert (Wood & Water Developments) and Shelaigh Garson.
PDC Course Description: https://www.woodwaterdevelopments.com/2019-permaculture-design-certificate-kamloops-bc/
| Location: | The Living Arts Studio, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | November 2019 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., was a speaker at the 2019 Natural Building and Ecological Design Colloquium at OUR Ecovillage where he
“Rocking OUR world and the full house of builders, designers, and all at the ‘Natural Building and Ecological Design Colloquium’ is a most amazing Engineer who understands and supports natural building through regulatory processes and helps teach us all what we need to understand to create health, safety and permitted natural buildings!” – Brandy Gallagher
Other speakers and contributors included natural building heavyweights Mark Lakeman (City Repair Project), Mudgirls Natural Building Collective, Elke Cole, Benito Stein, Athena Stein, Patrick Hennebery (Cobworks), Eco-Sense, and the several of the next generation.
| Location: | OUR Ecovillage, Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | June 2019 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., was a speaker at the 2019 The Westcoast Small Home Expo where he taught the basics of structural systems to small home enthusiasts on the Tiny Home Village Stage.
What role does engineering play in the design of your tiny house? When planning your tiny home, it’s important to take into account things like structural elements, load paths, and stability. These things don’t need to be complicated. Mark shares his years of experience by demonstrating these key principles that will help you better understand and improve your tiny home’s structure.
| Location: | Tradex, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | May 2019 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., was a speaker at Kamloops Green Building Expo 2019 where he shared on “sustainable” building, navigating regulations and more.
| Location: | Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | May 2019 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., hosted Shelaigh Garson and the Permaculture Kamloops group at the Darfield Earthship for a tour and lecture about engineering.
| Location: | Darfield Earthship, Darfield, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | August 2018 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., contributed to a Q&A with Cottage Life Magazine’s Early Summer 2018 Issue.
“GETTING THE OK FOR EARTHSHIPS
Why wouldn’t a municipality grant permits to build an earthship?
“In most cases, the design of earthship-like buildings—with tire walls and no concrete foundation—means they fall outside the part of the building code that deals with small residential buildings.
This doesn’t mean you can’t get a permit to build one. “There are lots of buildings that fall outside this part of the code—hospitals, schools—and those things are built all the time,” says Mark Fleischhaker, a structural engineer based in B.C. But it does mean that you’ll need to equip yourself with the right professional services. As soon as you want to build something unconventional, “you better have professionals to back you up,” says Fleischhaker. “You need their stamps on the drawings.” You’ll require, at the very least, input from a structural engineer, but you might also need help from a mechanical or an electrical engineer, depending on the features you plan to include in the structure.”
| Date: | Summer 2018 |
| Full Article: | https://pocketmags.com/share/article/370200 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., and Jesse Thomas taught a Sustainable Building Workshop to festival goers at Luminosity Gathering 2016. Workshop participants took part in a Pallet Portal live build.
| Location: | Luminosity Gathering, Nahatlatch Valley, British Columbia |
| Date: | July 2016 |
Mark Fleischhaker, P.Eng., visited the Simply Not Square earthship build near Golden where he taught the basics of structural systems to earthship enthusiasts.
| Location: | Simply Not Square, Golden, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date: | June 2016 |
