Sunday's tale: Bottle Masonry. Made house with recycled plastic bottles

Sunday's Tale: a post from the past

On Sustainable diary last Sunday we spoke about an amazing building made with glass bottles, and also today we decide to tell a bottle’s story.

Plastic bottle construction is an idea of Andreas Froese, an architect and environmental entrepreneur. Froese developed Eco-Tec, a method to utilize plastic (PET) bottles as “bricks” in the construction of houses, latrines, and water tanks. It is a good idea to address the problem by putting to use some of the million plastic water bottles discards each day in developing nations.

The first plastic bottle construction project in Africa was pioneered in Uganda by an organization called Butakoola Village Association forDevelopment - BUVAD. BUVAD is located in Kayunga, a district north of Kampala.

They teamed up with Eco-Tec to bring bottle construction technology to Uganda in the form of a latrine block. Students and community members at a local primary school collected and filled bottles found throughout the community and together they built a block of latrines for their school. Constructed in April 2010, BUVAD’s latrine block was the first of its kind on the continent.

Benefits of Bottle Construction

Waste management - A small house can use as many as 10,000 bottles, waste that would otherwise be deposited in a landfill or burned.

Environmental protection - Unlike “traditional” bricks, bottle bricks are not fired, a process which uses much firewood and contributes to deforestation.

Cost effective - Building with bottles is typically less expensive than building with bricks as the main construction material is trash.

Job creation – The construction process of building with bottles is work intensive. This means many can be involved in the process, creating opportunities for employment and community involvement, from collecting to filling to building. While this method would potentially be costly in more industrialized nations, where labor is expensive and materials are cheap, in countries like Uganda, materials are expensive, labor is cheap, and jobs are in demand.

Shock resistant – The plastic coating of “bottle bricks” makes them more flexible than fired bricks. Bottle construction has greater shock resistance and is well suited for earthquake prone areas.

Long lasting – It is estimated that it takes a plastic bottle approximately 300 years to decompose.

Here you can have a tutorial, and here you can find some inspirations.

More info

website Eco-Tec

facebook page

Photo credit © Aminu Abubakar

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Waiting for the spring: Ecology of Colour Pavilion in Kent, UK

UK-based Studio Wave created Ecology of Colour, a colourful pavilion for holding a variety of sustainable craft workshops within Dartford Central Park’s Ecology Island. This is the third Artlands public realm commission for North Kent. Made from local materials, was designed “to act as a jolly custodian" and encourage community involvement in a neglected corner of a public park.

In response to this unique context, Studio Weave have designed a small versatile structure with a semi-outdoor space at ground level and an enclosed area on the first floor with many windows that open wide onto the landscape. As well for bird watching and art studio the building will be used as an outdoor classroom, a dyeing workshop and simply as a rain shelter, as well as sun shelter, within the Ecology Island.

The colorful cladding was conceived by graphic studio Nous Vous who have created a cohesive graphic visual language for the exterior of the building. Prior to its installation, a team of local residents and artists worked together in a painting workshop to produce each of the 144 panels, which form the external cladding.

The building opened in September 2012, now a group of designers is working with a group of horticulturists to create a garden full of native plants for extracting natural pigments (including Golden Rod for yellow, Alder for red and Bugloss for blue), celebrating nature and color in a fun, inclusive way.

More info

website Studio Weave

website Art lands North Kent

facebook page

Photo credit © Studio Weave

 

 

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The most beautiful, and green, street in the world: Rua Goncalo de Carvalho

Sustainable diary has found another amazing green tunnel, so let's go in Brasil.

RuaGoncalo de Carvalho is a street located in bairro Independência in the city of Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Flanked by trees on either side, the street became internationally known after a campaign for its preservation spread on the Internet leading it to be dubbed "the most beautiful street in the world", and today it is considered "environmental heritage" by the city.

It is a forest. Over a span of 500 meters the sidewalks are lined with more than one hundred trees of the genus Tipuana, going up to the seventh floor of the buildings in some cases. These trees were planted in the 1930s by employees of German origin who worked in a local brewery.

In 2005, the construction of a mall nearby brought the risk of changes to this beautiful street, prompting residents to mobilize. The campaign was successful, and on June 5, 2006 the then mayor José Fogaça signed a decree making the street Gonçalo de Carvalho "historical, cultural and environmental development of the city."

The writer Pedro Nuno Teixeira Santos wrote: "Goncalo de Carvalho in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is not only the most beautiful street in the world because of the stunning visual effect of its immense Tipuana green tunnel. It is the most beautiful street in the world for this, but mainly because these trees were planted cherished by its residents, over several decades, that is, the green tunnel is the result of love, the love of the trees! It was from this love and this struggle of the residents of Goncalo de Carvalho, that the political power of the city found itself forced to recognize the importance of cultural heritage, landscape and environment, classifying and protecting it with the force of law".

More info

website Rua Goncalo de Carvalho

facebookpage

Photo credit © here

 

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Sunday's tale: the Thai Temple of recycled beer bottles

Sunday's Tale: a post from the past

In the Thai landscape, Buddhist temples are very common sight.

Deep in Sisaket province, in the north-east of Thailand, lies one incredible temple complex. Its official name is Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew but it is known by almost everyone as Wat Lan Kuad or the Temple of a Million Bottles. 

There’s an estimated 1.5 million bottles bound in concrete into the temple. It is a novel way to recycle any empties.

The construction of this temple complex began in 1984, as the monks found themselves with an excess of donated beer bottles that they previously used just to decorate existing buildings.

The resident Buddhist monks at the complex encourage local authorities to deposit any used bottles at the temple which they then use to build new structures and works of art to the grounds of the temple. "The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make", says Abbot San Kataboonyo. Everything on the temple site, from the crematorium to the toilets, incorporates the bottles, making a space that’s both functional and beautiful. Bottle caps have been used to decorate murals, and to create mosaics of Buddha.

The monks have come to prefer the bottles over traditional red clay bricks as they don’t fade and produce a fantastic colored ambient light. They primarily use green and brown glass bottles from the beer brands Heineken and Chang. Some of the older buildings in the complex are created with rare square shaped Heineken bottles that are easily stackable and were briefly sold in the 80′s. Perhaps that is where the idea for bottles as bricks was originally conceived.

Even though drinking is a sin in Buddhism, this still seems like a positive use of beer and lager bottle. So, if you find yourself in Thailands Sisaket province consider stopping by and earning some merit. Or at least just enjoy a cold beer and donate your bottle to the effort!

 

 

 

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NLE architects and Makoko community in Lagos: floats idea for life on the water

Today is a rainy day here in Milano and maybe for inspiration, Sustainable Diary speaks of a water story. As you know on our planet water levels are steadily rising, and along west Africa's densely populated coast many waterfront communities are finding themselves inundated with the problem of adaptive housing solutions that withstand swelling tides and swift currents.

NLÉArchitects has been working on a three-phase plan for the waterfront community of Makoko in Lagos, in Nigeria. An estimated 250,000 people live here, they trade, shop and build aquafarms on the lagoon's waters. This slum was said to be created in the 18th century as a fishing village, but has ballooned as others have sought to find a home.

Each year, the tropical rains that lash Lagos, overwhelm the colonial-era drainage system. The NLÉ's project will transform the already buoyant city into a contemporary community on the water's surface with independent floating structures made of local materials applied in new ways.

First step of the project is the realization of the Makoko Floating School, a triangular form in section constructed with timber on a platform supported by empty blue plastic drums. The 3-storey structure contains a common area for children to play on as its base, with two floors for classrooms above it. The energy supply is based on renewable technology, this with the water catchment systems make the dynamic educational facility partially self sustainable.

The school is expected to serve the urgent needs of educating children in the community, and also as a floating building pilot project for African water communities.

"Particularly in view of climate change, there's a need to adapt buildings. We decided to use this as a prototype for developing something whether the water level rises or goes down, the building responds to that," said architect Kunle Adeyemi from NLÉ.

The school was completed in the end of February, the floating houses being finished in September of this year and the Lagos Water Community project by the end of 2014 which will herald a new era for coastal developments in Africa.

More info

website NLÉ Architects

Facebook page

Photo credit © NLÉ Architects

 

 

 

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Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles in the Air

Today we talk about Tree Houses, buildings that stimulate our imagination, to live in symbiosis with trees. "The idea of climbing a tree for shelter, or just to see the earth from another perspective, is surely as old as humanity. Tree houses are chronicled in ancient civilizations and their lore crosses through the history of every part of the world where trees grow."

It is a couple of weeks ago that in Sagron Mis, near Dolomites, there will be the first Italian village of tree houses.

Among the deciduous and coniferous trees at the foot of Mount Piz Sagron will be built the village of tree houses, made using only natural and bio-compatible materials.

On 2 February, in the Hall of the Community of Primiero of Tonadico, there was the presentation of the project, the idea was born two years ago, when the council of the small town of Sagron Mis, located in the eastern part of Trentino Alto Adige, welcomes the proposal of the Study of architecture MQAA, to create a permanent laboratory of architecture 'rampant': "To develop new ideas and living spaces more environmentally friendly."

During 2013, some projects will result in a series of early prototypes to be achieved by the year in the municipal area, the meditative retreat to the shelter rampant.

Tree Houses Village, Sagron Mis, model of the final project

And, coincidentally, on this subject came out a couple of days ago a Taschen's new book Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles in the Air features stunning images of 50 of the world's most amazing tree house designs. Structures range from traditional A-frame homes in miniature, to bulbous, futuristic dwellings that cling to behemoth branches. There is a true wealth of images to be savored in the glossy photos captured of each arboreal abode in Taschen's 352 page book.

More info

website MQAA

Photo credit © Taschen, MQAA

 

 

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UFU (Urban Farming Unit) by Damien Chivialle, for re-thinking cities

Yesterday on the diary there was the fabulous story of Todmorden, a town in UK where inhabitants grow in the green public area almost all the vegetables that need. Today we write on another project of re-thinking cities, food production and consumption, UFU (UrbanFarming Unit) a solution for who that don't have a adapted places and conditions.

UFU is a farming experiment inside shipping containers created by French designer Damien Chivialle. Organic fish, fruits and vegetables are produced in the street, avoiding unnecessary travels and providing meaning to food consumption in downtown cities. All prototypes are based on circular agriculture techniques.

Normally, such a container is found in industry, but with UFU it is used to test new applications in a city context. Cycle cultures are central in the research on biological farming without land. Objectives of UFU are to find solutions for growing food under polluted and reduced ground.

Damien Chivialle places a greenery on top of a container in which a aquarium with fish is housed. The fish’s water and excrements feed the greenery plants, who in turn purify the water that flows back to the aquarium. The result: UFU (Urban Farming Unit), a self-regulating city farm the size of a parking spot.

2011’s UFU is one of many container projects in Paris, Lissabon and Zürich, and was recently shown at Brussels’ Kaaitheater. Now, until the end of February, UFU is exhibit in On Leuven’s Grote Markt as part of the Artefact Festival program. 

The last amazing thing is that this project is developed as Open Source. Download the Sketchup 3D model to make your own greenhouse >>go here

More info

website Damien Chivialle

website UFU (Urban Farming Unit)

Facebookpage

photo credit courtesy Urban Farm Units

 

 

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Sunday's Tale - Nature integration into urban culture: Flower cushion in Bucheon City, Korea

Sunday's Tale: a post from the past

"Flower cushion" was presented in October 2012 after 2 months of work, for "Artistic Factory", a public art project by Kyonggi Art Foundation. It was initially planned as two separate commissions, one by seoul-based interdisciplinary artist Jeong Hwa Choi and the other by Korean architecture Mass Studies but, following the site visit, both decided to collaborate on single project to have a stronger impact with relatively small means.

"Flower Cushion" is located at the Piloti space at block 1 of Technopark, in Bucheon City, Korea. The existing Piloti space with an high ceiling was not well used despite of its generous size and prominent location in this highrise factory block. Therefore, they propose a gathering space that accommodates factory workers' various activities such as resting, meeting and outdoor performances, etc. At the same time, it works as a pedestal for the Choi's sculpture "You are Flower" that was created from recycled monochromatic hardware part, continuing a series of floral-form works that use the artifacts of everyday life and Korean kitsch to honor the intangible beauty of nature while understanding it's variously successful integration into urban culture.

"Flower Cushion" rises above ground, as if the blossoming of Choi's flower created the eruption. This small hill like eruption follows the existing pavement's checkerboard pattern and colors which are made of typical interlocking cement paving blocks. These "cushions" rise around the flower sculpture in an elliptical concentric form that covers around 10m X 7m in plan and 1.2m in height. The height of each "Flower Cushion" provides optimum seating conditions with various height and viewing directions. While maintaining the same colors and shape as existing cement blocks, the material for "Flower Cushion" is made of rubber chips in order to accommodate a comfortable seating condition, also they calling attention to the over-saturation of consumable and ultimately disposable objects in the digital age.

More info:

www.massstudies.com

www.choijeonghwa.com

Photo credit Kyungsub Shin, draws from Mass Studies

 

 

 

 

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Support Hariyo Chowk, a urban garden and outdoor community space in Kathmandu

The Sattya Media Arts Collective are creating a collaborative movement to transform the rapidly urbanizing city of Kathmandu, Nepal, with Urban Farming and Environmental Education.

They have set out to transform a vacant site into a modern adaptation of a traditional chowk, or town square. Dubbed Hariyo Chowk which means, "Green Commons" in Nepali, the project has served as a place to learn and share tips for urban greening and ways to create a socially sustainable future for Kathmandu.

Hariyo Chowk has been made possible with a multifaceted team of passionately dedicated people knowledgeable about sustainable architecture, design, organic farming, photography, and media. The 'green square' has come into fruition with help from dozens of volunteers that have supported them since they began in the Spring of 2012.

So many people have helped them bloom to where we are today, however now they need your help with a final round of fundraising for Hariyo Chowk. To support this initiative let's go on Indiegogo web campaign and donate!

Hariyo Chowk has has spent the last 8 months creating them own green space, a hub for the community to learn and practice sustainable gardening and building. They have been working resourcefully with existing contributions and will be celebrating our grand opening in March 2013. 

They are envisioning a new season to begin in April, in which they want to grow in two specific ways:

- First, to become financially self-sustained within Kathmandu. The team plans to make this possible by selling plants and seed at markets, forging relationships with local organizations, and hosting affordable workshops, events, film screenings and even parties.

- Second, the project seeks to make Kathmandu greener through guerrilla gardening, maintaining existing public green spaces, helping people start community gardens, and starting a seed bank and library of native plant knowledge.

More info

HarikoChowk campaign!

facebookpage

www.sattya.org

photo credit Sattya Media Arts Collective

 

 

 

 

 

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