Cob Earthship

[Will Firstbrook WCB of BC]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has built a cob earthship. Earthships harvest
the sun in an extremely efficient manor and make great self sufficient
homes.  I had a talk with Sun Ray Kelly where he suggested as an
alternative to pounding tires is to use huge bales of straw 4' * 4' * 8'
(approx R90) move them into ideal position for the North, East and
West walls. Then make a 3 to 4 foot cob wall on the inside for the huge
mass. He would  also cob the outside of the straw. The greenhouse
(South) side of this structure can be built with windows and cob. All of
the earthship systems can be retained in this structure water collection
& distribution inside planters and greywater recycling, cob & straw
thermal mass refrigerator etc.

Is there any problem with enclosing strawbales between the Cob?

I was wondering whether you can still berm the north wall of such a
structure?

Do you need to build a cement/stone foundation? Or just under the cob
and strawbale walls? The reason I ask is for the inside planters and
greywater recycling.

Can anyone give me an idea on how long does it take to build a cob
home? For example if I wanted approximately 1500 SQ feet inside, gut
feel how long would it take 5 people to build the walls assuming all
materials are close at hand?

Regards,
Will