GET WASTED save the planet: Heineken re-useable Bottles, drink up and build something pretty
Posted: March 17th, 2009 | Author: raven burgos | Filed under: Craft, Food and Drink, Supplies, Travel, Weblogs, recycle, reuse | Tags: Design blog, DIY, Do it yourself, Funny blogs, heineken brick, heineken green bottle, heinekin build bottle, rafting tutorials, raven burgos | 1 Comment »
These Darlings can be used as bricks to build structures
Mr. Heineken’s idea came after a visit to the Caribbean where he saw
two problems: beaches littered with bottles and a lack of affordable
building materials. The WOBO became his vision to solve both the
recycling and housing challenges that he had witnessed on the islands.
The final WOBO design came in two sizes – 350 and 500 mm versions
that were meant to lay horizontally, interlock and layout in the same
manner as ‘brick and mortar’ construction. One production run in 1963
yielded 100,000 bottles some of which were used to build a small shed
on Mr. Heineken’s estate in Noordwijk, Netherlands. One of the
construction challenges “was to find a way in which corners and
openings could be made without cutting bottles,” said Mr. Habraken.
Despite the success of the first “world bottle” project, the
Heineken brewery didn’t support the WOBO and the idea stalled. Interest
was reignited in 1975 when Martin Pawley published Garbage Housing
which included the chapter ‘WOBO: a new kind of message in a bottle.’
Heineken once again approached Habraken who teamed up with designer
Rinus van den Berg and designed a building with oil drums for columns,
Volkswagen bus tops for roof and the WOBO bottles for walls, but the
structure was never built.
Today, the shed at the Heineken estate and a wall made of WOBO at
the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam are the only structures where the
‘beer brick’ was used. As to the remaining WOBO’s it’s not clear how
many exist, or where, but the idea, even some four decades later,
remains a lasting example in end-use innovation.
Pics Via RE-NEST
