Tech News Update

Recycling discarded materials into new buildings and adapting disused structures to new uses is not just about sustainability – it is also about savvy innovation and stylish adaptation. Some architects build modular wonders from existing units (such as shipping containers). Others draw from recycled, found and local materials (or entire ancient buildings) to make aesthetically incredible designs that brilliantly blend ancient and new.

Recycled Glass Bottle Buddhist Monastery

Stonefridge the Recycled Fringe Henge

Stonefridge, as it is aptly name by its creator, is a fridge henge – a version of stone henge made entirely out of used refrigerators and set in the barren semi-desert landscape of New Mexico on the edge of Santa Fe.. Refrigerators of all colors, shapes, sizes and vintages stand on top of one another and stack to a height of nearly twenty feet and a hundred-foot diameter circle. It is an “anti-monument” to American waste and is aligned not with solar, lunar or stellar phenomena as the original Stonehenge but rather with the infamous historic atomic explosions of Los Alamos.

Water Tower House Adaptive Reuse

This one has a very very history so follow closely: this really was a water tower that was originally designed to look like a house on top. After the water tower was decommissioned as such nearly a century later the top part was converted into an actual house – though it always looked like one. An exhilarating (or exhausting) walk takes its proud new owners to the absolute best view in the neighborhood – from the inside of what was once a thirty thousand gallon water tank!

Airplane Hangar to Water Park Conversion

A giant space is often the most hard to reuse. Small spaces can be opened up and repartitioned to make variously sized places for residential and commercial functions but something on the scale of an entire airplane hangar? What better use, then, for a gorgeous and vast interior volume like this than a fully functional water park complete with sand beaches, forest walks, water slides and guest residences? All of these fit comfortably into the 600 by 1000 foot floor space and under the 300 foot ceilings of this hangar near Berlin, Germany – complete with fake birds chirping in the background.

High Line Railroad to City Park Conversion

The people of New York City have long loved the derelict High Line rail structure, long inoperative, that floats along above the streets of Manhattan for over a mile on the Lower East Side. When the city made plans to ruin it citizen action groups sprang to attention, raised funds and eventually made plans to have it saved and converted into a public park. After a rigorous competition between top-notch architects from around the world the above concept design was chose upon and construction is now underway for a gorgeous long elevated park that will provide visitors with a lofted view as they walk through the city.

Adaptive Reuse of Garage as House
The garage is typically the least hospitable part of or attachment to a house – small and cold with undifferentiated floor plans and concrete floors are the norm for such spaces. But, a Portland architect worked hard for city approval and finally was able to turn a garage into not just a house but a living place with clever tricks for making the most fascinating and functional uses of available spaces as possible.

Container City Modular Mixed Use Buildings

The Container City system is a way of building, a modular container-based approach to residential and commercial architecture that takes advantage of the versatility of containers as building blocks – units that can be arranged and modified to accommodate diverse functions and make delightful wholes out of myriad smaller parts. The results are impressively diverse – from austere and functional offices to playful and colorful homes.

Transforming Cargo Container Home Module

A simple push of a button transforms this apparently bland cargo container into a working – if small – living space. It comes complete with built-in couches and bedroom furniture as well as the basic daily necessities such as a bathroom and kitchen – all around a simply incredible small shipping container home-on-the-go.

Shipping Container Office and Shop Tower

In a brilliant go to reinforce their brand (as a company that produces lovely faded-color bags from recycled materials) this German manufacturer chose to build a somehow perfectly industrial office and store tower completely from stacked shipping containers. This of course also helps them save on construction costs and make a bold statement on the skyline in addition to using recycled materials on their buildings as they do on their bags – a wonderful synthesis of design, sustainability and branding all around.

Creative Shipping Container Playground Design

Shipping containers are probably the last place most people would want their children to play – with one exception. By bending and transforming pieces of these containers cleverly fitting stairs and aesthetically connected shades are made, balconies and other architectural features are all rendered in the same material language that informs the entire composition. All in all this illustrates the amazingly varied possibilities of designing even within the seemingly limited palette of a set of rectangular metal boxes. 

Cleverly Camouflaged Cargo Container Home
While some shipping container home designs are built to accentuate the presence of these once-industrial units that form their structural core others take the exact opposite approach and attempt to disguise or entirely hide the presence of the underlying cargo container core. This house is a fascinating example of that latter approach in which the end product bears nearly no signs of what it was constructed from. Architectural critics might see this as distastefully untrue to the building’s origins but if it gets homeowners using recycled rather than new raw materials that, at least, is admirable in its own right

Giant Cargo Container Hotel Building

This huge cargo container hotel building seems like it missed a critical opportunity to express the basis of its construction in its final aesthetic appearance. The outside, once covered, resembles another dull stucco-and-brick hotel like any other. The insides are far more fascinating – each shipping container was pre-fitted with drywall, bathrooms and other basics before being shipped to the United Kingdom for assembly after being constructed in China. While this design does open up new possibilities for quick-constructed temporary festival and event housing it could be more expressive of its origins on its surface

Modular Cargo Container Housing Designs

HyBrid Seattle is a small architecture firm with huge thoughts. From the multi-unit residential cargo container housing shown above to smaller emergency and residential and larger commercial structures they have done a fantastic deal of conceptual and real-life experimentation with the possibilities of shipping containers used in architectural ways. 

Super Sustainable Cargo Container Home

This prototype design is two homes in one with lower energy consumption and solar panels and geothermal power to offset what small energy is still needed. Based on shipping containers they use recycled materials in virtually all aspects of the design process. If anything, this structure arguably sacrifices style and comfort for the sake of sustainability – but as a polemical piece maybe that is an acceptable statement

Incredible Recycled Metal Sculpture Park

Foreverton has a mythical or even mystical sound to it – and the place lives up to the name. This is the world’s largest metal sculpture – 60 by 120 feet feet – itself surrounded by other sculptures forming a massive sculpture park. Whether he is serious or sarcastic its creator claims to be waiting to launch part of the mega-structure as a spaceship that will then help him reach the divine. A real claim or a trick to trap the tourists? No one can be entirely sure. 

Art Park Made from Recycled Materials

This vast architectural/art space was the life’s work of an Italian immigrant whose obsession grew and could not be stopped. The Watts Towers come complete with a wonderland of gazebos, fountains and artful mosaics made largely from found objects and recycled materials. At nearly 100 feet in height the towers themselves were cobbled together from a mixture of concrete, steel, mortar and wire mesh. All in all this is one of the most incredible buildings ever built essentially by one dedicated man.

Recycled Plastic Bottle Igloo Building

“Because Americans drink 70 million disposable bottles of water each day, with just 10 million making their way to a recycling bin, Jasmine wants to help spread the word about recycling and repurposing everyday objects in our environment.” This polemical piece of exotic plastic architecture will rotate locations in an attempt to raise general awareness about excessive plastic use in society and potentially sustainable reuse options.

Structural Sand Bag Walled House

materials – densely packed, they are fantastic insulators and relatively simple to stack and use as framing infill in construction. The simple building techniques needed to assemble such a home make it accessible for people who lack the traditional skills to take part in constructing their own house. Sandbags can usually be bought locally and cheaply as well, making them a more sustainable and affordable building material.

Even More Incredible Recycled Architecture

Haven’t had enough incredible recycled architecture for one day? From chapel, airplane and plane conversions to boat, water tower and pig sty adaptive reuses and creatively unusual present and historical structures built from bottles, cans and hay bales here are even more offbeat and innovative examples of incredible recycled architecture and design.

Even More Cargo Container Buildings

Want more creative cargo container architecture? Here are some more incredible shipping container building designs from container houses, schools and hotels to container emergency shelters and massive residential and office complexes. Or if you are feeling particularly adventurous, find out more about how to buy, design and/or build your own cargo container home or office.

Creative Recycled Material Furniture Designs

Of course, recycled materials aren’t just used in buildings. Some of the most creative recycled designs (many of which are both gorgeous and mass-producible) are furniture pieces that not only make for sustainable product choices but are also fantastic conversation pieces.

Creative Recycled Art Made from Trash

Not all recycling has to have a functional purpose in mind – some of the most engaging works of recycled art are just that: aesthetic pieces designed to inspire emotion and provoke thought. From legions of trash people and peeled building interiors to garbage sculpture parks and tin can paintings