With a serious housing shortage but no shortage of plastic bottles littering the streets, the Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE) – an NGO based in Nigeria – decided to build this incredible two-bedroom bungalow entirely out of plastic bottles! Although many in Kaduna were dubious when the project began construction in June this year, the nearly-complete home is bullet and fireproof, earthquake resistant, and maintains a comfortable interior temperature of 64 degrees fahrenheit year round!
Hundreds of plastic bottles were filled with sand and then linked together at the neck by an intricate network of string. The bottles were then strategically laid and packed down with a combination of mud and cement, creating a building material that DARE claims is stronger than cinder blocks!
The multi-colored bottle caps extend from the 624 square foot bungalow’s wall, creating a facade that gives an otherwise dull building a lovely splash of color. DARE received assistance from African Community Trust, a London-based NGO, and hopes to roll out similar buildings in the future. This project has the potential to not only improve the housing shortage, but clean up the streets as well!
Via Physorg
16 Responses to “Africa’s First Plastic Bottle House Rises in Nigeria”
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We only gotta take back the land Now. Then we can build housing for All. – FUCK greedy land owners!!!!! SHARE THE EARTH!! <3
Thank you for sharing this. We will be doing something similiar in Chiapas, Mexico. http://www.sextosol.org
Form follows function & pursues ecological necessity…Outstanding….The triad has been attained gracefully…
What is the roof made of?
Fantastic idea, inventive use of disposables that now become reusables – bravo!
This is really awesome, now we just need to collect the millions of bottles floating in the ocean and do something like this with them.
Hi. Thanks so much for sharing this info. I am the Project Director in Uganda for the company that is responsible for this technology. We are ECO-TEC and you can find us at http://www.ecotecnologia.com or http://www.ecotec-africa.com
Hi. I am the Project Director in Uganda for the company responsible for this construction method. I just want to answer an earlier comment – our constructions uses traditional roofing, in Nigeria I assume that will mean iron sheets (as it is here in Uganda). We also in many cases use traditional foundations as well though it is possible to use construction waste (also a huge landfill issue) and bottles in foundation construction, therefore using less cement. Thanks for your interest very much.
We also build a water tank for fish farming out of plastik bouttle
in the same place
I really enjoy these articles but there is a so little pictures 3 pictures for something a great as this?
Hi. Please google ‘ecotec plastic bottle construction’ and you will find many links with images from different blogs and websites. Also please look at http://www.ecotecnologia.com for more images. Andreas has also built a tank for fish farming using PET bottles filled with plastic waste such as plastic bags and packaging. Fill a bottle with plastic at your own house and you will be amazed at how many plastic bags you can get into a 500 ml bottle.
Maybe better than traditional roofing: a wide-arched thin-shell latex modified cement roof. Is only 1 cm thick, loaded-tested upwards of 300 kg/m. Comparatively cheapest and most durable. It’s generally conical form similar to traditional thatched roofs. Easily built on ground by common labor and tools with locally available materials. First, the roof armature of straight stems (needing little wood or bamboo) is joined together at certain angles to form large non-planar voids. These spanned with strong cloth or polyester, which forms hyperbolic paraboloidal (hypar) double-arched s surfaces, which are then overlaid with chickenwire. This strong tensile base is then embedded in latex-modified cement/sand to a total thicknes of about 1 cm (yes 10 mm). (Latex is common acrylic or butadiene concrete admixture). Latex cement remains resilient, like fiberglass boat hull. The roof’s firm square base with it’s diagonal joists will help stabilize your curved walls, and also offers four projecting corners out over your doors, windows. The joists can support a floor for a sizeable storage/sleeping loft, where skylight/vent allows air mass convection, effective insulation. Roof can be penetrated by stove-pipes in jackets. Roof’s clean water-collection may be significant for potable water.
We’ve demonstrated these in U.S., in Afghan, Kenya, Haiti, Bangladesh…in parks, camps, houses, schools. Can send pix. Glad to discuss specs with you, as designer and former UN and USAID field worker in resettlement and earthquake recovery. George Nez, nezgeorge@gmail.com
no wooden trusses or rafters, only 1/4 of wood or bamboo, plus strong cloth and chickenwire
Fantastic George, I am emailing you now. We are all about constant innovation. Thanks a lot. John – ECOTC-Africa
By looking at the plastic bottle home all I can say is “Glory be to the Creator”. That is pure creativity from the brain.
This is amazing! Along time ago, I read an article in which founder of Heineken Beer attempted to do this is South America and thought it was brilliant then… I even wondered why noone else had done this since (nearly, 1939? whe he did). Heineken bottles were actually made in a triangle shape for this purpose -building sustainable homes. Now, if we could only get plastic pottle makers to create a bottle shape that was similar! The round bottles look great too!
I love this! This is such an inspiration and such a breath of fresh air from all of the fear that’s being pumped to us daily about “the coming economic collapse!!!” and “the end of the world as we know it!!!” blah blah. Ingenuity like this reminds me that we did it once…we can and will do it again.