Utopian Earthship Thrives in New Mexico Desert

The town of Taos in New Mexico has long drawn people seeking alternatives to mainstream American life. Artists, off-grid idealists, and those disillusioned with urban living have flocked to the region, drawn by its vast terrain and possibilities for reinvention. On Honda Mesa, this vision took shape in the 1980s with a home commissioned by archaeologist Karen Young. The home’s current owner, John Sharp, has continued that tradition. The property functioned as an alpaca ranch and informal gathering place for Taos’s community of artists, makers, ranchers and alternative builders drawn to new ways of living with the land. The home’s current owner, John Sharp, has continued that tradition.

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The festivities begin with a conversation between ecological builders Wayne Rutherford and Patricia Martinez Rutherford, the former of whom was commissioned by Young to build the arrowhead house. A semicircular flight of stairs descending towards the bedrooms has been repurposed as an informal amphitheatre, where Wayne, now in his seventies, guides the audience through the lore of the place he built four decades earlier. He relied largely on Pumice-Crete, a volcanic material mixed and poured by hand into forms on site. Inspired by A Pattern Language, a seminal architectural text exploring how buildings can shape community, daily rituals and a deeper relationship with place, he helped create a space that reflects those ideals.

Sharp, who purchased the home in early 2022, was initially struck by its unconventional materials. “What the fuck? Where am I?” he recalls thinking upon first seeing it. For him, the appeal was not just aesthetic but philosophical. Sharp is known for conjuring immersive environments that blur the boundaries between architecture, setting and social life. Less interested in conventional setting design than in what he calls ‘experiential outdoor living’, he strives to create places where people can ‘grow up with and grow into’ their surroundings.

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What sets the house apart is its architectural innovation and its role in encouraging communal life. Young imagined the house; Rutherford built it; Sharp now understands his place in that lineage. “This is where my heart feels,” he says. “This house was created to bring people together.” The open house closes with a performance by synth-pop trio Dallas Acid, guests settling into Adirondack chairs of Sharp’s design as the mesa slips into evening. For Sharp, the home is more than a structure. It is a living, evolving space where history, art, and community converge.