Notable Facades with Recycled Materials

Sustainability is a major influence on an architect’s decisions as these decisions impact the carbon footprint left on the planet. A building’s energy footprint is by and large based on the material’s embodied energy. Many architects, who vouch for a sustainable tomorrow, consider the use of recycled waste materials to be used as building materials. A few notable examples of such efforts are listed below:

1. Bima Microlibrary, Indonesia

Architects- SHAU Bandung

Material used- Plastic Ice Cream Containers

The chase for a cost-efficient façade material and lack of jerry cans in the neighbourhood has led to use of ice cream containers to shade the interiors of this library. The plastic containers are set between vertical steel ribs spanning from floor to roof and are inclined towards the outside to repel rainwater.

2. Vegan House, Vietnam

Architects- Block Architects

Material used- Recycled Windows

A hoarder of old furniture with a tight budget and a determined architect was all it took to conceptualise this recycled window façade. The old Vietnamese windows were rearranged into the new facade with different colours that covered the old façade. This approach also created harmony with the remaining area.

3. Luxury Pavilion, Dubai

Architects- Fahed + Architects

Material used- Recycled Bed Springs

The outer copper bedspring skin of this temporary pavilion was sourced from a waste management company called Bee’ah. A mesh of entwined bedsprings naturally lent an organic form which appeared to float amongst the surrounding buildings.

4. Head in the Clouds, NYC

Architects- STUDIOKCA

Material used- Recycled Plastic Bottles

Head in the Clouds pavilion is formed out of 53,780 recycled bottles, the quantity thrown away by the residents of NYC in an hour. Sand, water and a curved aluminium frame supported the structure, Structural pillows made from one gallon jugs formed the exterior, and 16- and 24-ounce bottles lined the interiors.

5. Gallery of Furniture, Czech Republic

Architects- CHYBIK+KRISTOF

Material used- Recycled Plastic Seats

“Do it cheap, ideally for free”, was the task allotted to the architects. The façade is composed of more than 900 black plastic seats, with individual seats fixed on a structure made from steel sections fixed on the façade.

6. Carroll House, Brooklyn

Architects- LOT-EK

Material used- Recycled Shipping Container

21 shipping containers were stacked and cut diagonally along top and bottom to create a monolithic volume for this residence located within the urban fabric.

7. The Beehive, Surry Hills, Australia

Architects- Luigi Rosselli + Raffaello Rosselli

Materials used- Recycled Terracotta Roof Tiles

The Beehive is an exploration in an undervalued material-the terracotta roof tile. Multiple tile courses were experimented and formulated on the basis of each functional requirement.

8. Ningbo Historic Museum

Architects- Wang Shu, Amateur Architecture Studio

Material used- Recycled Tiles

The 3-storey museum’s façade is composed of debris collected from the surrounding areas where traditional Chinese buildings and settlements were demolished. A traditional technique called wapan was used in its construction in which multiple elements of different sizes are packed together to create a stable structure.

9. PET pavilion, Netherlands

Architects- Project.DWG + LOOS.FM

Material used- Recycled Plastic Bottles

Double-walled transparent corrugated sheets with over 40,000 plastic bottles were supported on a structure of two monumental slabs in a steel framework. The pavilion was mainly conceptualised for educational purposes and for awareness regarding the kind of waste people produce not knowing where it all goes!

10. Rane Vidyalaya School / Shanmugam Associates

Material used- Recycled grey fly ash brick

Grey fly ash bricks recycled from industrial cement waste were used along with locally wire-cut red coloured bricks for the entire façade.