United_Bottle

red dot: best of the best
red dot award: design concept 2007

design:

Instant Architects

In-house design:
Dirk Hebel	Joerg Stollman	Tobias Klauser

The UNITED_BOTTLE scenario is based on the idea that newly designed PET bottles can be used as instant building materials for temporary housing or small-scale structures. And thus, they can add additional recycling circuits to the existing ones.

Fifty billion PET bottles are currently circulating in Europe alone. Since the obligatory bottle deposit was introduced in Germany, the return quota has exceeded 90 percent. PET bottles can be used as returnable bottles as well as recycled, and transformed into a variety of products – from all forms of PET vessels to textiles (such as linings and fleece fabrics). This process – called “up-cycling” – mostly occurs in China, the final products being sold again on the European market.

This intersection of local and global circuits forms the basis of the project UNITED_BOTTLE. Taking into consideration the increasing scarcity of resources, UNITED_BOTTLE suggests additional recycling circuits. The project’s working hypothesis is that future design should think beyond the product; that the waste the project will eventually become should also be designed in order to open up possibilities for prospective use. The PET bottle offers an ideal model with which to study and implement this design agenda.

Relief organisations and non-government organisations face two major challenges during a state of emergency: the distribution of drinking water and the construction of emergency shelter. In a state of emergency, the Human Rights Commission, or NATO, transport tonnes of technical equipment by air. UNITED_BOTTLE proposes to short-circuit the cycles of consumer goods with those of crisis management to reduce both travel distance and weight.

Ideally, the UNITED_BOTTLE would already be integrated in local water sales and thus be instantly available to the local population. In combination with a mechanical water pump, it could be used for local water distribution. UNITED_BOTTLE allows for solar drinking water disinfection (SODIS). For local distribution, nine bottles form a stabile unit that can be carried by a single person. The tuck-in system generates secure connections that resist torsion. This system also enhances its suitability as a building material. In combination with UN tent blankets, for example, UNITED_BOTTLE functions as a solid shelter construction and as a water reservoir. Filled with local materials, such as sand, earth, liquid, and natural insulation materials such as animal hair or feathers, UNITED_BOTTLE turns into a construction material for repair works or temporary and even long-term shelters. An additional advantage of the project is that it could make use of a local population’s practical knowledge about building shelters by misusing prefabricated consumer goods.

Taking into account this potential, UNITED_BOTTLE also has significant advantages as a consumer good in so-called developed economies. For the producer and retailer, the tight stacking of the bottles allows for very efficient transport and thus renders the logistics of product distribution more efficient. For the consumer, the reuse as a low-cost construction module allows for the assembly of interior separation walls, small furniture, arbors or playhouses. Abusing and appropriating UNITED_BOTTLE supports a project of sustainable production and turns out to be fun at the same time!