Earthships and Tire Homes

Americans discard an estimated 253 million automobile tires every year. Nearly half of them end up in stock-piles or in landfills. - Scarp Tire Management Council.

The Nest takes the Earthship "Self-sufficient with ecological awareness" concept and combines it with the Volkswagen "economically available with limitations" concept. - Michael Reynolds, The Nest Concept.

In the words of Michael Reynolds, originator of the Earthship Idea, the earthship "is a completely independent globally oriented dwelling unit made of materials readily available in most parts of the world."
Let's see what Earth-Ship is. Webster dictionary defines it as "A registered trademark name for houses built with tires, aluminum cans, and earth".
these are passive solar homes made with indigenous readily available materials and waste products.
These are the structures made from automobile tires packed with dirt and stacked on one another like huge bricks, and are made in U-shaped rooms. The curving walls are covered with stucco or earthen plaster, which hides the evidence of tires and gives the look of adobe structures. The Front face usually consists of sloping glass that gathers up the sun to heat the house. Sunlight also supplies the indoor planters that provide food and purify waste water.
earthships are equipped with photovoltaics to generate heat and electricity. The Earthship sports a unique roof design that collects the rainwater or melted snow, which can be stored in the flanking two cisterns, big size water-storage tanks that collectively can hold up to 10,000 gallons of water. This is purified in a series of filters, this water supplies all domestic needs.
Earthship consists of two parts :- the U shaped living spaces and the environmentally interface corridor.

Advantages :-

1. One of the most environmentally sustainable forms of housing available in the industrial nations of the world, especially given the independent living systems that they incorporate.
2. Use of waste (discarded automobile tires) reducing the demand of natural resources.
3. Use of indigenous materials available near the building site such as vigas, mud plaster and packing dirt.
4. Materials required can be found worldwide in abundance.
5. Reduces stockpiles of tires that can catch fire and smolder for months on end.
6. relies on Passive solar heating and photovoltaics for electricity, reducing the demand of fossil fuel energy to light and heat the house.
7. reduces resource demand and pollution
8. decrease the dependance on utility power, saving money on energy bills
9. capture rainwater and melted snow, recycle wastewater and grow food
10. recycling of greywater protects groundwater and surface water supplies from depletion and pollution.
11. Earthships are resistant to fire, termites, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes.
12. protect the inhabitants from outside noise.
13. Easy to build on one's own if the detailing is ready.
14. Durable form of housing than conventional housing giving the array of other benefits.
15. Could be used in developing countries to promote self-sufficiency.
16. Interiors are relatively humid and easy on nasal passage ways.
17. a proven technology often accepted by building departments.
18. compete well economically with other forms of earth-friendly housing.

Disadvantages :-

1. Getting approval for Earthship construction varies by state.
2. although earthships tend to be warm when the sun is down, it can be cold during cloudy periods, because the mass is situated too far back in the housing to absorb incoming solar radiation directly, so backup heating system is required.
3. Even though tire walls are easy to build, costly mistakes can occur with no or less experience.
4. tire walls are labour intensive and labour is costly in most of the parts of world.
5. Slanted glass designs can overheat, especially in the fall. Curtains or window shades required to avoid this.
6. as in any solar home, sunlight can be intense during much of the day, creating eye-straining glare on computer screens.
7. Due to planters and 'u'shaped walls, the effective livable space is lesser compared to conventional homes
8. lack of storages and closets as lesser niches so care has to be taken to incorporate that in design
9. Humidity can be problematic due to plants so a vapor barrier between ceiling and insulation is necessary.
10. the open design that gives good air flow, can be problematic for privacy and noise problems.
11. If growing vegetables in planters, insects like white flies and aphids can be a big problem.

Source :- The Natural House by Daniel D. Chiras

Adobe Homes

Today, it is estimated that nearly half of the world's population live in earthen structures, adobe, rammed earth, and other more primitive structures. - Daniel Chiras The Natural House

Adobe is the ideal material for the beginner. It is a warm, kind material that is forgivingcurved brickes. of mistakes, and amenable to change. If you don't like what you have wrought, it is a simple matter to take it down and try again. - Paul Graham McHenry Jr. Adobe: Build it Yourself

Traditional adobe bricks are not as vulnerable to moisture as one might assume, and rainfall have a negligible effect on fully cured bricks. Clay will limit moisture penetration, only the surface will be wet. Concentrated streams of water, however must be kept off bricks. - Paul Graham McHenry Jr. Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings

The walls of a 2,000 sq.ft. ranch house built with a wooden frame weigh about 10 tons. The walls of an adobe home the same size would weigh nearly 340 tons. - Daniel Chiras The Natural House

Slaked lime (hydrated building lime) is also a valuable additive to adobe. It stabilizes adobe bricks and reduces the absorption of moisture. It also increases the compression strength of adobe bricks. - Steve Berlant, The Natural Builder, Vol. 1, Creating Architecture from Earth.

A Twelve-inch adobe block wall has an R-value of about 4.0. Although adobe walls offer little resistance to heat, loss, their ability to store heat helps offset the low R-value. Direct solar gain on walls also helps compensate for their low insulation value.

The sense of creating shelter out of mud and earth is as primal as what must have been the first potter's amazement in creating an earthen vase; as the clay is manipulated, the potter gives it life and shape, resulting in a natural beauty that no straight line can offer. - Orlando Romero and David Larkin, Adobe: Building and Living with Earth.

An Adobe structure, properly built, is in that earthen comfort zone that tempers the harshest of climates; it is efficient shellter in the searing desert heat of Arizona or Saudi Arabia, the windy reaches of East Anglia, or the snowy mountain regions of Asia. - Orlando Romero and David Larkin, Adobe: Building and Living with Earth.

The softly flowing walls and rounded corners create a gentle, comforting, and secure feeling space.

Adobe homes:-
Advantages :-

1. Adobe is widely and locally available inexpensive resource and could provide housing for millions, specially in impoverished nations.
2. Adobe codes have been adopted by many building departments.
3. adobe has low embodied energy.
4. Adobe bricks can be made on site by hand or by machine, reducing the transportation demand ultimately cutting energy use and pollution. Its also commercially available.
5. making adobe bricks requires minimal skill and are fairly inexpensive. Its one of the easiest of all natural materials to work with.
6. Adobe walls are fairly easy to build, requiring little skill and few tools.
7. Adobe's thermal properties make it an ideal building materials for homes heated by passive solar energy.
8. Adobe building stay warm in winter and cool in summer in arid climates with cool nights.
9. Its a great sound insulator, and living in an adobe home is quiet and peaceful.
10. Cab be easily recyclable. broken bricks can be used with mud while intact bricks form demolished structures can be used to build new walls.
11. Adobe can be used to build houses of a wide variety of architectural designs, even Victorian.
12. Adobe building lends itself to artistic expression.
13. Adobe walls are fireproof.

Disadvantages :-

1. Building adobe bricks and walls is labour intensive and can be costly if hired people to do that.
2. Adobe wall construction is hard work.
3. Traditional adobe bricks making is limited by weather and climate. It is unsuitable to cold or wet areas.
4. Adobe bricks cannot be made during freezing or wet weather.
5. Squirrels and insects, notably termites, can burrow through adobe walls, weakening them though plaster reduces this problem.

Building with Earth

Think of rammed earth as a sort of "instant rock". The natural process of creating sedimentary rock occurs over a span of thousands and millions of years. An earth rammer, on the other hand, creates it in a matter of minutes. - David Easton - The Rammed Earth House.

Working with earth is simple in one sense, but very complex in another. Soil is so diverse, its properties and reactions so widely variable, that to fully understand its uses and limitations, and to build with it successfully, takes years of study and experience. - David Easton - The Rammed Earth House.
Rammed Earth homes
Advantages:-

1. uses local materials, reducing our impact on the planet.
2. Reduces the demand for lumber, protecting the Forests.
3. Rammed Earth homes can be extremely attractive cue to flexibility of shapes.
4. lend themselves to passive solar design.
5. These are energy efficient - reducing our dependance on fossil fuels, which reduces air pollution and other impacts associated with fossil fuels.
6. Can be built with wide variety of styles, contemporary, classical, southwestern etc
7. Walls are very strong and capable of resisting earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes
8. walls are resistant to decay and are safe in fires. In fact, fire hardens and strengthens the exterior walls.
9. Thick Walls of rammed earth are soundproof, a benefit of immense value in today's noisy world.
   
10. Walls are also impenetrable to insects and rodents.
11. Less expensive technology than brick, stone, adobe or even ferro-cement construction.

Disadvantages :-

1. Fairly labor intensive construction and can be costly than other types where the labor charges are high.
2. building walls, takes a long time and is a hard work.
3. Requires careful analysis of soil, without that costly errors can occur.
4. On-site mixing, wetting and compacting of soil requires proper attention. Error made will be irreversible once the walls are hardened.
5. Requires special skills.
6. Lot of wood required for form work, although some can be reused.

Cast earth Construction :- This is an alternative to rammed earth. In this, a slurry of sand, gypsum and water are poured into concrete forms. This accelerates the wall-building process reducing the time and cost factors.

According to Cast Earth affiliates :- Cast Earth has been demonstrated successfully in actual residences. It is a true "breakthrough technology", providing a product with all of the properties of traditional earth construction, augmented by superior aesthetics, rapid construction, and affordable cost.


Wall strength usually ranges from 600 to 700 pounds per sq. inch same as high quality adobe & rammed earth but has almost 1/2 to 3/4 of their labor cost.

Since its free flowing slurry and quick to set up, the forms can be lightweight and flexible in shape. Gypsum counteracts the clay tendency to expand and contract depending on moisture level, thus reducing the cracking.

These Thick mass walls are ideal for passive solar heating and passive cooling, thus reducing the lifetime cost for maintenance and energy.

Cast earth is more resistant to rain than rammed earth and adobe. If unprotected, it will absorb rain but will retain its original wet strength. r proofing can be added to the slurry or applied to outer wall. Like rammed earth, cast earth walls can be insulated. Rigid insulation can be inserted in forms prior to pouring the slurry.

Since the technology is machinery intensive and requires extensive form work, this lends itself to mass production.

Cob Construction

Cob is nothing but the earthen construction, known by different names in different cultures. The word 'COB' meaning 'a lump or loaf' in old English, refers to the mud building system common in old Britain and former English colonies like Australia and New Zealand, which uses no form-work, no wooden supports and no bricks.

Cob is made from sand, straw and clay based subsoil mixed with water to produce moist and malleable building material. It is quite similar to adobe but here higher straw percentage is mixed in. Instead of creating the uniform blocks, cob is normally applied by hand in large gobs where it can tossed by one person to another during the building process. Traditionally cob was mixed by stamping the ingredients together bare feet, but it can also be combined by hand or mechanically by using the backhoe for mixing. This stiff mud is then built up into walls while still wet in courses. Each of the course was sewn into the prior one while both are still pliable. As the bottom of the wall becomes firm and dry, more cob is added on top until desired height is reached taking along the windows, doors, elect. conduits, plumbing, cabinet anchors etc.
This gives a strong, hard and monolithic earthen wall reinforced with interwoven high tensile strength straw fibers.
Advantages :-
1. Durable, resulting in buildings that will last for 100s of years.
2. weather resistant even in harsh climate of Britain coastal line.
3. more resistant to earthquakes as no mortar joints.
4. walls don't burn, rot or get eaten by insects
5. enormous thermal storage capacity, making it ideally suited to passive solar designs.
6. extreme fluidity of forms, cob can be shaped into expressive sculptural forms.
7. Made entirely form natural and recyclable materials, consuming virtually no energy and producing no pollution in manufacture.

Disadvantages :-
1. Extremely thick walls, impractical for smaller plots or tight corners.
2. slow to build with since each layer of 450-600 millimeters takes 3 to 4 days to dry.
3. Variability of applicable soil types requires slightly different ratios of mix ingredients.
4. Cob is susceptible to water damage.
5. Must be built on a masonry foundation to protect against rising damp, and gutters, drainpipes and an overhang roof must be properly maintained to prevent excessive moisture penetrating the walls.

Passive Solar Cooling

In Passive Solar Cooling, Solar Building Design does not aim at using the gained solar energy, but rather it aims at slowing the rate of heat transfer into a building in summer, and improving the removal of unwanted heat.

Passive solar cooling is much easier to achieve in new constructions rather molding the existing ones. Lets see some of the strategies to achieve passive Solar cooling in new designs.

In Hot climates like here in Arizona, North facing walls should have as many openings as possible whereas totally avoiding the south facing wall. This will enhance the light and ventilation and will also reduce the heat absorption. In Cold and temperate climate, South facing walls should have large number of windows for greatest solar gain in summer, But these windows should be protected from high angle midday sun by providing overhangs, awnings or operable slatted shutters. South exposure windows should be operable. Casement windows offer the best airflow. Awning (or hopper) windows should be fully opened or air will be directed to ceiling. Awning windows offer the best rain protection and perform better than double hung windows. If a room can have windows on only one side, use two widely spaced windows instead of one window.

East and west facing walls, which receive low angle sunlight in morning and late afternoon, should have less openings. Best effect can be gained by shading these openings by trees or high shrubs.

Passive ventilation can be effective when windows and vents will be opened to bring in outside air when temperatures are cool mainly in early morning and late evenings. If the outdoor air is very humid or if temperatures don't get much below 65F at night - this may not be much effective.

Solar Chimney can enhance the ventilation though. A Vertical dark colored shaft protruding well above the roof, heats up during the day, pulling the air upward and thus creating the breeze in room below. Another way to achieve ventilation is providing the wholehouse fan, which will draw the air from entire house pushing it out through the vent. As other strategy, make the outlet openings slightly larger than the inlet openings. Even Placing the inlets at low to medium heights will provide airflow at occupant levels in the room, making it more comfortable for occupants.

Applying Low Emissivity film to window glasses can also reduce the heat loss in winter and also the heat gain in summer. Selection of this film is to be done carefully considering the climate conditions.

Reflective and light colored roofing will also reduce the heat gain helping to reduce the cooling costs.

How to design Sustainable Houses???

What is the Sustainable Home?
At the very Basic level, we can say that, a sustainable house is one that has a significantly lower impact on the environment than a standard building.

This can be achieved with two key strategies:-
1. Reducing the amount of energy needed for the construction
2. Minimizing the building's reliance on energy once it is occupied.

How to achieve the first Strategy?
:) By selecting the materials that require little energy to extract or produce.
These are often natural resources such as Timber, Clay and Stones.
The sustainable home can also employ renewable, salvaged or recycled components that doesn't deplete the world's natural resources. There can be used local materials thereby reducing the carbon emitted during transportation and creating contextual buildings that express the local vernacular. Materials to be employed economically if smaller quantities are used. then less energy is needed for their extraction, production and transportation.
Chemical finishes should be avoided, as these require large amounts of energy to produce and release harmful fumes, degrading air quality.
Site impact should be kept minimum, to help to support existing biodiversity and reducing the need for intrusive foundation work. This can be achieved by preventing unnecessary demolition of existing buildings, or by reducing the waste created during construction.

The second strategy is about cutting energy consumption in the finished building.
For this it is important to include thermally massive materials, which store and release heat energy gradually over time. This will help to regulate the internal temperature of house. Insulation helps to keep a house cool in summer and trap heat inside in the winter. Solar energy can be gained by south facing glazing whereas use of protective shades gives a passive means to avoid excess heat in summer. Best use of natural daylight and using low-energy light fixtures when artificial lighting is required will save energy. Natural ventilation can be gained by manually operated doors and windows or by integrated ventilation system. Similarly rain water can be harvested or sewage water can be treated for reuse in gardens or toilets. Incorporation of solar panels, wind turbines on the roofs and garden can gain some energy too.

Important last thing is that the sustainable design should also allow the safe dismantaling and as much possible recycling of the materials used in the construction.

There can be enormous ways to design considering the above strategies.... Lets see what we can achieve in this frame which is becoming more and more necessary to adapt.

10 Best Green Buildings - 2011 winners

10 best green buildings? Architects pick 2011 winners

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

A house in Racine, Wis., on the edge of Lake Michigan, is one of American Insitute of Architect's top 10 winners this year for sustainable architecture. It takes advantage of the lake breeze and the site's solar exposure to provide natural cross-ventilation and daylight.

CAPTION

By Farshid Assassi

Buildings that conserve water and energy and use recycled, non-toxic materials don't have to look like boring boxes. To see jaw-dropping possibilities, check out the American Institute of Architects 2011 winners for sustainable architecture.

The 15th annual COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates buildings that not only use few resources but don't harm their sites, have healthy indoor air quality and connect to public transit.

An elementary school in Greensburg, Kan. -- largely destroyed by a 2007 tornado -- also won an AIA award. It had a wind turbine that provides some of its power (the rest comes from a wind farm outside of town).

CAPTION

By Farshid Assassi

The winners this year include a school in Greensburg, Kan., a town that was nearly flattened by a May 2007 tornado. The school has a 50-kilowatt wind turbine that provides some of its power (the rest comes from a wind farm outside of town).

Another is Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation in Austin, Texas, which used 88% of the materials from a 1950s warehouse to help build -- on the same site -- a multi-functional office space for 62 employees.

Also among the top 10 is a house in Racine, Wis., that won the top or platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. On a narrow lot in an old city neighborhood at the edge of Lake Michigan, it takes advantage of the lake breeze and the site's solar exposure to provide natural cross-ventilation and daylight. The AIA's other seven winners include:

Also an AIA winner for sustainable architecture is Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation in Austin, Texas, which reused 88% of the materials from a 1950s warehouse to build -- on the same site -- a multi-functional office space for 62 employees.

CAPTION

By Casey Dunn

1. Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles
   This urban infill, mixed-use, market-rate housing project was designed to incorporate green design as a way of marketing a green lifestyle. The design maximizes the opportunities of the mild, Southern California climate with a passive cooling strategy.
2. First Unitarian Society Meeting House, Madison, Wis.
   The 20,000-square-foot addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed national historic landmark Meeting House is approximately 40% more efficient than a comparable base case facility. The new building design features recycled-content and locally sourced materials.
3. High Tech High Chula Vista, Chula Vista, Calif.
   This public charter school serving 550 students in grades 9-12 with an approach rooted in project-based learning uses a building management system that integrates a weather station and monitors and controls the lighting and mechanical systems of the facilities, in addition to the irrigation and domestic water systems.
4. LOTT Clean Water Alliance, Olympia, Wash.
   While most sewage treatment plants are invisible to their communities and separated by a chain link fence, the LOTT Clean Water Alliance Regional Service Center is a visible and active participant in the public life of Olympia. ...Methane generated from the plant's waste treatment process is used in a cogeneration plant to generate electricity and heat.
5. Research Support Facility (RSF) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colo.
   With the goal of creating the largest commercial net-zero energy structure in the country, the building is meant to serve as a blueprint for a net-zero energy future and influence others in the building industry to pursue low energy and net-zero energy performance.
6. Step Up on 5th, Santa Monica, Calif.
   This mixed-use project provides 46 studio apartments of permanent affordable housing and supportive services for the homeless and mentally disabled population in the heart of downtown Santa Monica. The density of the project is 258 dwelling units/acre, which exceeds the average density of the Manhattan borough of New York City by more than 10%.
7. Vancouver Convention Centre West, Vancouver, British Columbia
   As the world's first LEED Platinum convention center, this project is designed to bring together the complex ecology, vibrant local culture and urban environment, embellishing their inter-relationships through architectural form and materiality. The living roof -- at 6 acres it is the largest in Canada -- hosts some 400,000 indigenous plants.
   
   Source :- USA TODAY

Use of Recycled Plastic Bottles

Hello friends,
As we saw the Use of recycling going to an extreme.. this one is another example of the same.
Since all are only talking about reducing the Plastic waste (majorly generated due to plastic bags and soft drink bottles); here is the great use of it....

Amazing houses made from recycled plastic bottles

Whenever we think of a shelter, from construction to habitation, we crave to beautify it with the best we have at our disposal. Since most of us have neither the resources nor funds to realize our aspirations, why don’t we utilize the superfluous scraps? I am talking about the items that we generally consider as trash: more specifically, the plastic bottles. Using them constructively, eco-creators have fashioned certain eco-homes that simply defy the limits of affordable and sustainable housing. Here we have listed some of them, marvelously made abodes –miracles of recycling – that you would sure love to inhabit:

• Eco-tec’s casa ecológica (Ecological House)

Using some 8,000 PET bottles, EcoTec created the casa ecológica constructed in Honduras. A “living roof” (green roof) made from sod and turf ‘insulates the house better than conventional roofs.’ Weighing 30 metric tons when wet, the 102 square meter (m2) living roof of the casa ecológica has PET bottle walls to support the weight.

• New Schoolhouse in Guatemala built from 6,000 plastic bottles

Reutilization of as many as 6,000 plastic bottles has resulted into an innovative school in Guatemala. Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner used plastic trash as construction material and filled the bottles with plastic grocery bags, chip bags, and other waste. Truly Inspiring and innovative, to say the least!

• Mexican House made from plastic and glass bottles

• Serbian House take in 13,500 of them, seeks a place in the Guinness Book of Records

Tomislav Radovanovic, a Serbian mathematics professor from the central town of Kragujevac, has created this 60sq meter house. Working for five long years, Radovanovic made use of plastic bottles for the larger part of the construction –‘only the foundation of the property is concrete.’

• Argentine constructs amazing house from 1200 PET bottles, 1300 Tetra Pack cartons

Alfredo Santa Cruz sought his family’s constructive support to make his dream home. Not satisfied yet with the outcome, he offers ‘free courses about construction with recovered materials (asking only for travel expenses and a place to stay)’ so that others could follow what he had executed to perfection.

• Bottle House at Seattle’s Music and Art Festival

A translucent sun dome made from hundreds of empty recycled bottles is a proof positive of artist Jasmine Zimmerman’s inventiveness. Not exactly a home, the sun dome will grow vegetation. Once the festival nears its conclusion, the eco-home would travel to various places.

• 25,000 plastic bottles re-purposed to make Bolivian bottle house

Some young environmental activists in Bolivia collected about 25,000 plastic bottles and built a home out of them in six months time. Filling the bottles with sand and reinforcing it with steel and cement, they created strong walls. The first of the ‘bottle houses’ was completed in Warnes, in the eastern province of Santa Cruz. The fanatical group plans to build ten more houses.

Source :- greendiary.com

Sustainable Architecture and Existing Home

How to Incorporate Green Sustainable Architecture Into Your Existing Home
By Joan One

Joan One is a freelance journalist and creative writer who immensely enjoys writing and researching into any topic under the Sun. She specializes in writing ...

As more people around the world try to find more ways of reducing their carbon footprint, environmentally conscious homeowners are turning to ideas for the incorporation of green architecture into their existing homes. Sustainable architecture is based on the idea that the design of a building or home should have the least impact on the environment as possible. Green architecture therefore creates a cleaner living environment, while using cost effective energy saving building techniques.

In order to incorporate sustainable green architecture into your already existing home, you will first need to contract the services of a sustainable architect to bring to reality your dream for greener living. A sustainable architect knows that every component in a building can comprise of sustainable architecture, such as renewable building materials, building design, active and passive heating and cooling, water conservation methods as well as natural and artificial lighting. The architect will be able to advise you on how best to incorporate green architecture into your home through the use of sustainable materials for your home finishes. For instance, you may include sustainable materials for your wall surfaces, countertops and flooring with finishes such as salvaged steel, recycled plastic as well as locally mined and produced tiles and stones.

When it comes to paint, opt for the low toxic paints and finishes to coat both the exterior and interior of your home. Install a low flush toilet which will enable you to conserve water usage. As you do your shopping, always check the product labels and only buy home building products that contain low levels of volatile organic compounds. Be sure to conduct an energy audit of your home where it will be inspected for any spots with leaks which require added insulation. Remember that a tightly sealed home which is properly insulated will help you save on heating bills and usage.

Joan One is a freelance journalist and creative writer who immensely enjoys writing and researching into any topic under the Sun. She specializes in writing "green" eco-friendly topics aimed at enabling environmentally conscious readers to find simple ways to reduce their carbon footprint and help save our planet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5658185

Inspiring Creations with Recycled Materials

Hello Friends,
Came across an article about use of recycled materials... I was amazed seeing this..
Hope you all will also like.

12 incredible creations that take recycling to an extreme

In the modern world many perfectly shaped materials are thrown away in landfills, which could have been used elsewhere to reduce production of new items and emissions associated with new production. Some creative minds are working to help the environment by creating unique works of art from discarded materials, at all scales. Some do this for sheer pleasure for art and conscience, while others do it on largest possible scales to bring out an all new meaning of the word recycling. Here we have tried to feature arts and creations of such brave minds that have given an all new direction to the concept of trash art and have left us mesmerized with the grandness of their works. Hit the jump to read on for 12 such out of the world creations, we love for their efforts and vastness in form.

• Bruce Munro’s Inland Sea

Artist Bruce Munro has reused about one million unwanted compact discs to create a shimmering inland sea at Long Knoll Field in Wiltshire, England. Apart from some local collections, the massive sea used more than 600,000 discarded CDs that were sent from as far away as Brazil and California. The 120sqm carpet of glittering CDs reflects light from the sun and the moon across a 10-acre field.

• WHIM Architecture’s Recycled Island

WHIM Architecture are proposing a gigantic recycled island that will be made from plastic waste collected from the North Pacific Gyre. The bold project will not only help clean the oceans, but it might just be a perfect home for climate refugees. Waste will be converted into 4000 square miles of recycled plastic land upon which plastic communities will be built. The habitable area of the island will be designed as an urban setting with a green living environment.

• Container City

Several Mexican designers have taken container recycling to a grand scale by creating a “Container City” out of them. The city offers 4500 m2 of urban space about two hours from Mexico City and makes use of 50 metal containers that are recycled into hippie stores, bookstores, art galleries, bars, restaurants, bakeries, juice bars and work and living spaces.

• Minnie Evans Bottle Chapel

Constructed as a garden retreat this recycling wonder is located at Airlie Gardens, Wilmington, NC, and has been constructed entirely from recycled bottles, cement and chicken wire by local artist Virginia Wright-Frierson.

• Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village

Built by Tressa Prisbrey (better known as Grandma Prisbrey) over a period of 25 years this bottle village is created from recycled beer bottles. The project includes 13 full-size structures, an impressive mosaic walkway and several shrines and wishing wells.

• Holiday Inn’s Key Card Hotel

The designer of this amazing plastic palace amassed about 200,000 unwanted plastic slips and converted them into a guest house. The hotel includes a guest room, bathroom and lobby, all fully furnished with life-size furniture all made from the same materials.

• Spiral Island

Created from over 250,000 plastic bottles and other recycled materials, the Spiral Island is open to public and could be one of the most impressive DIY projects of modern times.

• Minister’s Treehouse

Created by Horace Burgess the Minister’s Treehouse is a 10-story treehouse in Crossville, Tennessee. The enormous treehouse covers an area of between 8000 to 10,000 square-feet and is built entirely from wood that has either been donated or is salvaged from barns and garages. The designers has spent $12,000 on the building, most of which went into purchasing about 258,000 nails.

• Beer Bottle House

This Beer Bottle House is the creation of Tito Ingenieri who has spent 19 years in building this recycling wonder using about 6 million beer bottles. Quite obviously, the home doesn’t look sleek or chic but considering that the guy has spent close to two decades on the same, we have to give him some credit for recycling.

• Toilet Seat Waterfall

Created as an art project in China, this unique waterfall is made up of thousands of recycled toilet seats, urinals and sinks.

• Rock Garden

The Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India has been created by Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. Today the garden is spread over an area of 160,000sqm and is completely built of industrial waste, home waste and other thrown-away items. The garden features man-made interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap.

• Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew Temple

Created by some monks, this Buddhist temple reuses about a million recycled beer bottles. This spectacular structure uses the green colored bottles of Heineken Beer and brown colored bottles of Chang Beer, which not only makes it look beautiful but also serves as a good book to educate the disciples on the benefits of recycling and environment conservation.

Source:- ecofriend.com