To wrap up my Mazunte series, and give a little teaser for the future, here are some details about the often-mentioned Earthship Theater, planned to be built in Mazunte by Itínera in cooperation with Earthship Biotecture.
Not Your Everyday Earthship
For most people, Earthships are buildings with lots of slanted windows on the southern side, and bermed up tire-walls on the other three sides. And true enough, in the high desert of Taos, NM where these autonomous buildings have been developed, this is the design that works best. It captures the heat of the sun in the daytime, and releases it at night. But that doesn’t mean this is the only way to build an Earthship.
In tropical climates there is no need for heat capture. If anything, heat should be kept out, focusing on cooling instead. During various projects in Haiti, Jamaica, Easter Island, and other places with constantly hot climates, Earthship Biotecture came up with its flower model as the most efficient design for passively cooled structures. What makes it work is convection driven air-flow, drawing air through cooling tubes as the hot air escapes through ceiling vents, and strategically places water cisterns to dampen the heat where it’s most needed.
Everything an Earthship Should Have
While temperature control has been accommodated to the local climate, the building is still going to capture rainwater, filter, use, and re-use it in indoor and outdoor planters, as well as for flushing the toilets. Also, as any good Earthship, it’s going to cover all its electrical needs by means of solar power. This last aspect is super important, as we’re dealing with a building for the performing arts, where lights and sound systems play a major role in the shows presented, and would otherwise come at considerable electric costs.
Not Your Everyday Theater
As I mentioned in a previous post, the theater building has been designed by our architect Valeria Galluzzi, together with Mike Reynolds, the charismatic architect behind Earthship Biotecture, as her independent study project at the Earthship Academy. It is going to be a circular structure with a vaulted dome roof on top of a tire-wall base, and seat 250 people in one large interior hall. Unlike most theaters, the inside space will be versatile to either separate the audience from the stage in a classical sense, or combine them in a number of different ways, enabling performances to include and involve the audience in the show. Itínera considers this aspect to be essential for the types of theatrical works they envision to be presented.
Apart from the Main Building
Unlike the main building, which has been fully designed, there are a number of additional structures still in the planning phase. These include a separate office building, a bar/restaurant, and cabins for artists or volunteers, along with a community kitchen and bathrooms. The latest site layout I posted here has already been overhauled, though it may be changed a few more times before the final version comes out.
Among the minor structures is also the only building we have started constructing, the so called “deposito” or “store” as the site plan refers to it. It will be a combination of garage and storage space, which can also be used as a classroom, or fulfill other functions. Since we’ve already placed a good number of tires and built about half of its walls, this multi-purpose garage, along with the main building, are the two structures that will not change in their plans. Eventually, the garage is supposed to have a self-supporting green roof, with water harvesting capabilities.
As for myself, I would love to come for a build, even if only to complete the garage. However, as Itínera is slashing its way through the jungle of red tape, the building plans may be approved soon, and after a successful fund-raising campaign the whole project may proceed at once. Let’s keep our fingers crossed! Either way, there is an amazing theater to be expected in the beautiful beach-town of Mazunte, hopefully sooner than later.
Other Posts from the Mazunte Series:
- Terraces on the Oaxacan Coast – Preparing for the Adventure
- The Bus Came By and I Got On
- Working on Getting Work Started
- A Theater on the Beach - Revisited
- Progress in Bahía de la Luna
- Itínera, the People Building the Mazunte Theater
- The Beginning of a Retaining Wall
- Tire-Pounding for Beginners
- Life on the Mountain
- The Place I'm In: Arroyo Cruz, Bahía de la Luna, La Boquilla
- Building the Wall - Tire Pounding for Advanced
- Meanwhile Back at the Ranch